Travel Gifts

Corporate dads have to travel sometimes for work, even in a first year clerkship. We didn't always mind when my dad traveled because he usually came back with gifts from that place. Not only was I excited to get presents, but I enjoyed feeling a part of his work life even when it temporarily took place in another state. NYC is full of souvenir shops, which are usually full of overpriced and useless gifts, at least as far as children as young as mine are concerned. Whether it was a crystal sculpture of the Empire State Building or a stuffed NYC cab or NYPD car, the result would be the same--played with once, then forgotten. I guess the sculpture would probably be broken rather than lost and present a greater risk of injury than the stuffed cars, but my point is that travel gifts can easily become junk. While visiting a bookstore in Brooklyn last night, I found a little board book called, "Good Night New York," featuring a little boy and a little girl who greet various features of NYC, Brooklyn, etc. throughout the day and wish the city a good night at the end. I thought reading it to the kids as a bedtime story when I got home would not only carry on the fun tradition of travel gifts and make my family a part of my travels, it would also (hopefully) last longer and be more meaningful. My impression from reading the book to them tonight was that they loved seeing and learning about where I had been the past four days.