I just took my last phone call as "Dr. Peter Venkman" of the Ghostbusters.

My daughter, Lily, is five. I have been showing her some things that were special for me growing up, before the way better, faster, smarter, more expensive, etc. things of today make that an uphill battle. She's got a blank canvas, so beating Super Mario's first level is as much a thrill to her as it was for me in the 80s. I've shown her a few movies, like Goonies, The Addams Family, the Ghostbusters, and some others.For a year or so, she's been obsessed with the Ghostbusters. She's particularly fond of Dr. Venkman, though after showing her his other films, she seems to just like Bill Murray in general I think.Every single night for the past year I have followed a routine: I do my part of bedtime, her mother tags in for the tuck in, I go to the garage and wait for my cell to ring. Then I answer as Janene, the receptionist. I am God awful at it, but she buys a pinched nose and horrific Brooklyn accent. It's like music to my ears. A tiny voice: "Hi, Janene! Can I talk to Peter?"​She then talks to "Peter Venkman" for about 5-10 minutes, depending on what happened at Pre-K. She truly thinks of him as a friend. I was her imaginary friend who could talk back.​And that's the problem. I knew this couldn't end well. She'd either figure it out, and then I risk credibility on the whole Santa thing too, or I stop doing it - and judge if you want, that option sucked too. I didn't want it to stop either.​Well, tonight, I took my last call as Dr. Venkman. Lily told me tonight that she wants to go off to be a wizard at Hogwarts now, and so she doesn't have to be a Ghostbuster after all. I'm going to take that queue to exit stage left.I must sound like a damn crazy person. I just wanted to type this out and say goodbye to it. I'm honestly having kind of a hard time with it. Thanks for reading. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2Xc95wa