It was a bit of a routine by then, seeing his daughter come rushing down the wooden stairs and into the kitchen. Every Sunday at 8am. The same rich smell of coffee. The same sunshine in the window.
"Morning, Daddy!"
"Morning, Aly."
She ran to his side to hug him. He met her energy with a gentle embrace. She was getting taller each time he saw her.
It wasn't always like this. Only Sunday, when he would come visit to see her and take her to church, then spend the afternoon together. It was that little bit of time each week that felt special, despite the routine of it all.
"How is school going?" he asked.
"Great!"
"You workin' hard?"
"Yes," she said bashfully.
"Tell me something you learned."
"We learned about engines."
"You know, your daddy knows a thing or two about engines. Spent the last 15 years gettin real good with engines. You see that car out there, it's got a great engine. That same kind of engine was invented over 100 years ago. When we put together a new engine, we have to be sure all the parts fit together just right. If not, the engine might not work, or it might just waste a lot of gas. You got a leaky engine and you're burning fuel but you're losing heat. Over the years, they've gotten better at making engines. That's because these smart men called engineers are always working to make the engine better."
She smiled and looked right up at him.
"I want be an engineer."
"Well, honey, you gotta keep workin hard in school. You learn as much as you can, and you don't forget a thing. In fact, I want to ask you something."
"Yeah?"
"You keep a diary?"
"No."
"I want you to start keeping a diary. You write in it every day, something you learned. You go to school, you hear something from your mom, you write it down. You think of something new, you write it down. You read, or you hear something on the TV, you write it down. You go learn as much as you can, and you don't forget a thing."
"Okay, daddy."
"Remember, honey, you write everything down and you won't forget it. You'll be like a good engine, keeping all that energy inside. I promise you, you do that, you can be anything you want."
She jumped off the chair. "Daddy, I want to be a writer."
"Why is that, honey?"
"I don't want to keep anything inside. I want to share. If I'm just keeping it to myself, then it's no good."
