My daughter is tougher than a thousand Moth judges.
I competed in a Moth GrandSLAM at The Music Hall in Williamsburg last night and finished in second place.
Again. By a tenth of a point.
The only consolation was that I lost to my favorite storyteller of all time, who has beaten me by a tenth of a point more than a few times in my Moth career.
In truth, I was also pleased to have told my story well and to have held my own in a field of extraordinary storytellers. It was truly an all-star lineup.
When I woke my four year-old daughter up this morning, she yawned, wiped the sleep from her eyes and asked, “So? Did you win last night?”
“No, sweetie. But I came in second.”
She frowned and made a tiny raspberry sound. Then she sat up, looked me in the eye and said, “C’mon, Daddy. You always come in second place.”
Sometimes a little girl’s assessment of your performance in the privacy of her bedroom can be tougher to handle than five teams of judges in a public setting.
