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As some of you know I’ve been sick for over a week. First a cold virus hit Jon and myself, then on top of that I became anemic again. The combination has laid me very low. I haven’t spent that much time on the couch, or napping at odd hours in the bed, in months, maybe a couple of years. My constitution score has gone up thanks to exercise, better nutrition, and allergy shots, but at heart I am not the most robust of people. This has reminded me of that.

Saturday I put on two of my “doze and watch” movies while I did just that on the couch. What movies? David Suchet as Agatha Christie’s Poirot in “Sad Cypress” and “Five Little Pigs”. I love all the Suchet Poirot stuff, but these are two of my favorites. I have seen them often enough that I can doze, watch, doze, and still enjoy them. I live in hope that someday my books will be made as true to the books and the characters as these programs. Agatha Christie never lived to see Suchet as her Belgian detective, but I think she would have approved. Yes, I know that some of the movies give Poiroit a bigger part on screen than he had in his books, but then Christie hated Poiroit almost since his inception, and would often write most of a book without him on stage. Her essay about her dissatisfaction with both Poiroit and Miss Jane Marple profoundly effected me as a writer. You can thank that essay for Anita and Merry both being young, Anita especially in her early 20’s, and Merry early 30’s, and for them both being people I enjoy spending time with. Christie actually based Poiroit on someone she found annoying in a restaurant. It was a recipe for hatred between the two of them from the beginning. She also bemoaned that they were both too old at the beginning of their literary careers.

All this made me plan more fun and frolic for my own series characters. But, actually, I digress, a lot. My point was actually that Trinity was able to come in, talk to me, then bounce out to do her own thing. She talked to Jon and I about a lot of things this weekend: computer games (mostly Jon), fantasy literature and elves in particular, and gobs of other topics. When I got too tired I’d go nap in the bedroom and Trinity was able to play on the big flat-screen. Then when I came down, the games went off, and we watched something else. I felt that I was particularly uninteresting this weekend, but late on Sunday Trinity told me something completely different.

She said, “This was the best week ever.” When asked for details she had been able to play as much computer games as she wanted, allowed to stay up late by herself, because Jon and I went to bed early for first both of us being sick, then just me. The last few days Jon has stayed up, too, because I’ve been going to bed pitifully early some nights. Trinity enjoyed the long talks about elves and fantasy literature. We also watched the new “Alice in Wonderland” movie with Johnny Depp. I liked it much better than I thought I would, and many of the touches were brilliant. Depp was perfect as the Mad Hatter, and the Queens, both white and red, delightfully creepy. Anne Hathaway and Helen Bohmom Carter respectively, were very fun. Anne Hathaway’s white queen’s line, “I don’t owe you a kindness.” Was strangely chilling for such mild words. There were glimpses, such as that moment that hinted that the White Queen could have been more terrible than her sister if it wasn’t for her vows and a squeamish stomach. Everyone was nearly perfect casting. The young girl who played Alice had a wonderful fragility to her, and I loved the Hatter saying to her, “You’ve lost your muchness.” Don’t we all sometimes?

Trinity was interested enough that when Jon recommended the book series, “The Looking Glass Wars” by Fank Beddor, she happily absconded with the first hardback book to her room to read.

Being sick allowed me to be more available to my daughter. It allowed her to play video games, and be up late with the house all too herself, which she loved. She liked my naps because she could watch and do what she wanted with the big screen. She also slept in until 1:00 PM one day. Teenagers actually need more sleep than toddlers according to studies. They’re growing more.

I’ve hated last week and the weekend was a chore in impatience and illness for me. Trinity loved it. I asked her, “Better than Disney World?” Yes, was the answer. “Better than swimming with dolphins in the Keys?”

Her answer, “Dad didn’t do that with us. I got to talk to both of you this weekend.”

There you have it. It’s not about big trips, or amusement parks, or even swimming in the ocean. It’s about spending time together, talking, and just being a family. Quality time for our daughter is just spending time with both her parents, playing video games, reading good books, and talking. Since I never had a family vacation anywhere fun, and that’s what I wanted, it’s what I’d counted as more fun for Trinity. Just goes to show that you have to let go of your own childhood and find out what kind of childhood your actual child wants. You maybe as surprised as I was what means “quality time” for your kid.