#phan 2009

“Dad?” Fiona asked.

“Yes?” Dan and Phil responded in near unison. 

Dan laughed. “Which one of us, Fi?”

“Either,” she said, climbing onto the sofa cushion between them. “I have an assignment.”

“Oh?” Phil said, closing his laptop.

“My teacher wants us to write a story about how our parents met,” she announced.

“Hmm,” Dan said. “I can see this being a really tricky question for a lot of kids, Fiona.”

“Not me, Dad,” she said, looking up at him and Phil with big brown eyes.

Dan gave up. Time for a talk on the marginalization of non-traditional family structures in the public school system later. “Okay, then. What do you want to know?”

She beamed. “All of it.”

Dan made a face. “Not all of it,” he mouthed at Phil.

“Well, you know how your dad and I make videos and put them on the internet sometimes?” Phil began.

Dan cringed and covered Fiona’s ears. “Phil, her teacher is going to think something very wrong.”

“Fine then, you do it.”

“So your dad and I met-” Dan wrinkled his nose. “Twelve years ago? Wow, that’s a long time.”

“If you had asked me, I wouldn’t have had to do the math,” Phil said. “I already knew.”

Dan ignored Phil. “It was love at first sight.”

“For you, maybe. For me it was more like love at ten millionth annoying tweet.”

Dan kept ignoring Phil. “If your dad ever tries to tell you that I used to stalk him, he’s lying, okay, honey? I was just a very invested fan.”

Fiona nodded.

“So your dad and I talked a lot online, and then we decided to meet in person, which you should always be very careful doing when meeting people from the internet,” Phil said.

Dan nodded. “Yes, Fiona. Not everyone on the Internet is who they say they are.”

“But before that we spent a lot of time just talking. You know, the Internet is a scary place, but without it, me and your dad never would have met. It’s not all bad.”

“Your dad is so talented, Fiona. His videos were so creative and fun and always made me feel happy and safe.”

Phil smiled. “Your videos always made me feel more aware of the inevitability of death.”

“Shut up, Phil. I’m trying to be sentimental. You’re ruining it.”

“Sorry, sorry. Your dad also makes great videos, when he actually films them, and I’m so lucky to be part of why he makes them.”

“So we kind of connected over that,” Dan said.

“And then when we met, it was like we had known each other for our entire lives. And once we met, we just sort of never left. And now we’re here.”

Fiona was fastidiously taking notes in her notebook with large, pencil-scrawled letters.

“Let us know if you need any more help,” Dan said, absentmindedly threading his fingers through her hair.

She smiled and looked up at him. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Also, if any of your classmates don’t have a story, remember to be nice to them, okay? Not everyone has two parents who love each other,” Dan said.