I remembered one time when she had just finished a painting; I caught her looking at the final product, her head tilted slightly to one side, with a small, satisfied smile on her face. “I can never get it exactly the way I see it in my mind, Linds,” she told me. “But this one is close.”

Monet painted a lot of water lilies, but there were other paintings I found equally wonderful. Fishing boats, sailboats, cathedrals: they were all beautiful to me.

After I made sure I had looked at every single one, Mimi called Dad to come pick us up, and told him we were going to make a quick stop at the gift shop first. Mimi bought me an art book all about Monet’s paintings. It was pretty expensive.

We met up with Dad and got into the car, and the minute he saw the bag from the gift shop, Dad immediately whipped out his wallet, thinking I had asked Mimi to buy the pricey art book for me.

But Mimi waved her hand, shooing him away, saying it was a gift and her treat.

After some protest, Dad eventually put his wallet away. “But I’m paying for dinner,” he said. “No arguments. It’s not up for discussion.”

Mimi nodded seriously. “Yes. Food I’ll let you pay for,” she said. And we all laughed.

Dad and Mimi and I stopped at a restaurant Dad wanted to try for dinner, and he went to talk to the manager while Mimi and I settled into a booth.

“I worked up an appetite,” said Mimi.

I realized I was pretty hungry too. I looked at the menu, which was huge, and everything sounded good.

“Okay,” said Dad, sliding into the other side of the table. “There are a few things I’d like to try, so let me know if there’s anything that catches your eye. Otherwise I’ll order for everyone.”

“That makes it easy,” said Mimi, and she slapped her menu shut and slid it to Dad.

Dad ordered enough food for about ten people.

“Uh, Mike, it’s just the three of us, right?” asked Mimi.

“It’s market research!” said Dad.

It was strange to be in a restaurant that wasn’t the Park. I noticed how busy the staff was, and, because it was a big restaurant, they really had to move fast to get from the kitchen to the tables.

It was also weird to be out to dinner and not see one person we knew. I wondered if you could spend a whole day in a city without seeing anyone you had ever met before. You would be totally anonymous.