My daughter loves to play with dolls, these little miniature things, where she holds the legs and walks for them and flips around in the air while creating whispering little dialogues.
It’s the cutest thing ever.
Last night she invited me to play with her: “This one has superpowers and this one has a force field. You can be the one with superpowers.”
But I declined, not actively but by default.
I was looking at my phone, scrolling through Hawaii B&Bs for our trip in August. C’mon, that’s important!
I had the energy to play and I really wanted to, but I was deep in the phone trance. She could see that and so put her head on my shoulder and danced the dolls around on her chest, respectfully quiet in her play.
In some faraway place beyond all the scrolling, I really did want to play with her. But she ended up falling asleep on my stomach and, around 10pm, I found a B&B in Hawaii.
I woke up today with regret but I know how to make it right. This one’s easy.
When she gets home from school, at a moment when she’s not on her phone, I’ll ask her to let me play dolls with her.
Why have regrets, when I can have it all?