Have you danced with Cinderella lately?

Rice park sparkled like a Disney movie…an evening fit for a Prince and Princess.

Every grown father and daughter will attest to difficulties of maintaining a healthy, harmonious teenage father/daughter relationship….rarely Prince and Princess!

However, the recent Anna & Paul Batz Daddy Daughter Date Night was a Seven Fs clean sweep — blending faith, family, finances, fitness, friends, fun and future.

Last week, Anna Mary Batz accepted my formal invitation for a fancy evening of dinner and theater in historic, magical downtown St. Paul, Minnesota.  (Readers of the What Really Works book, will recognize Daddy Daughter Date Night as one of our most celebrated Success Habits.)

Cinderella is special to us.  Our family is uber-musical…we’ve been labeled the Von Batz Family Singers by affectionate fans in our church.  It comes honestly: my grandmother sang with the Chicago Opera and my mother still teaches music to this day.  My children have grown up on the piano bench, singing Disney and Broadway songs as I play the piano.  For us, the music is a faith builder, stress buster, and generation blender.

Anna was born with my grandmother’s voice.  It’s wonderful, but not always easy. Adolescent girls these days spend most of their energy trying to fit in.  The moment she realized the gift was special was when she was cast as “Cinderella” in Cinderella.  She got the big part as a lowly 7th grader, who quickly became public enemy #1 by the 8th grade girls.

But, alas, when she sat still on center stage and sang “In my Own Little Corner”…the 8th grade girls understood.

Rice park sparkled like a Disney movie…a perfect evening for Daddy Daughter Date Night.  Over dinner, my Cinderella and I dreamed about where she might go to college.  We gazed with admiration over the Princess and Prince we’ve both become.  We talked about 16-year old girl problems.  And dreams for her future.  We talked about 48 year old Prince problems.  And dreams for his future.

Dinner was $96.  Cinderella tickets, $208.  Sharing cheesecake and decaf during intermission was luxurious…the dance through sparkling Rice Park with her arm around mine was priceless.

We’re all working on the relationships that are important to us.  Personally and professionally.  We’re all prince and princess one moment — and difficult teenagers the next.  That’s why it’s important to take personal responsibility to create the moment to connect with the people who count in our lives.

Good leaders understand it takes personal responsibility to build strong, resilient relationship with people who count in our lives.

What Cinderella in your life – personally or professionally – needs your invitation to dance?

Seize the day.