"Yes, I do. With all my heart, Pita. Go."

My daughter won a contest.  She wouldn't think of it that way and maybe I shouldn't either, but while I'm riding a train into the heart of "the most powerful city in the world - just ask anyone who works there" she's on a cruise ship plying the incredible waters of the Caribbean.  I'm color blind and still think it's the most beautiful water in the world.  (Of course, I haven't been to the South Pacific yet.)

See what I mean?  She's a winner.

Her brothers spent yesterday shopping for school supplies.  I'm sure they think I'm a winner (graduated – yah for me!) but I've got to say, the hours are much better for school and they are not taking into account the fact that on their vacation day of shopping, I was at work.  My daughter was blissfully unaware, sailing as she was.

Don't ask me how I feel about her traveling outside the country without me.  You'll get a rambling inconclusive answer and I'll get an ulcer.  It isn't about trust - she's going with the right sort of people.  It's about how long it would take me to get to Nassau to start looking for the malefactors that took her.  I'd lose the critical window in travel time.

But that's just the ramblings of a career spent being paranoid so other people don't have to be.  She's going to have a wonderful time and while to her it's just really cool that her friend invited her on the cruise, to the rest of us, she's a winner.

Note: The obvious movie reference would be "Taken" but I don't think the story was nearly as good.  People complained a bit about "Man on Fire" being slow to start.  Those people aren't parents.  Those people didn't see the love story that transformed Creasy.  Without getting to know Creasy, Pita, and Lisa, the story would have meant nothing - it would have been as empty as "Taken".  I have to work very hard to remember any of the scenes from Taken yet just reading qoutes from "Man on Fire" gives me chills.  Denzel Washington didn't play a cold blooded killer.  He played a man on fire who understood damnation and redemption inteimately - and convinced us that he would do anything to get Pita back because he loved her more than life itself, not becuase it was in the script.

When was the last time you were on fire?  Alive with burning purpose?

Man on Fire earned it's rating for language and graphic, brutal violence.  It is not a borderline PG-13 film.