Finn’s school was off on Monday, Mama needed to teach, and I was scheduled to shoot an important video at work, so I had a copilot on the train with me. We packed her a bag with her laptop, some snacks, and the first Harry Potter book. We got up early, got ourselves together, and made it to the early train with time to spare.

Finn was the model of an excellent guest for the whole day. She sat contentedly at her laptop for the morning while I ran to and fro to set up the shoot, waited patiently while I got it in the can, and then we went to get some lunch. She was feeling sick for most of the morning, but the thought of a burger at Shake Shack woke her up. I’ve never seen a burger disappear so fast.

I had a bunch of work to get to after lunch and before we could leave, so Finn opened up the first Harry Potter book and dove in with gusto, burning through about 60 pages in an hour. We then jumped back on the train so I could get her to soccer practice on time–which we did, by about 30 seconds. She had a good day out on the field, focusing on the coach’s instructions and scoring two practice goals against a scrimmage defender.

Jen and I made sure to praise her at dinnertime, because she had a fantastic day, and I was proud to call her my daughter.