Alice is 27

I don't know whether I am being ungallant in naming a lady's age but I am proud to say my younger daughter was 27 on the 16th. It all adds to the fact that I am 60 in January but it still comes as a surprise that the baby of our little family unit of four has reached her late twenties. That sounds less of a compliment to Alice than I expected but a sparkier and fun person to be with you couldn't wish to find. She never thinks so which is probably the key to her success but she is such good company and the conversation covers such a wide variety of subjects.
Her passion is films and combined with a talent with words (possessed since an early age) everyone who knows her says she should try her hand at film criticism. I know she is thinking of a masters and/or drama school but she could also consider the film reviewer as yet another of her options. She is a lovely actress with the ability to add detail and nuances to her characterisation that remind me somewhat of her mother and a good friend, Sally. The latter adds subtext like it is going out of business and has a speaking voice of great clarity and tone. Ingrid, Alice's mother, comes from an acting family and there must be something in the genes because you never get anything less than a fully rounded performance. Ingrid has great technique but the inspiration comes from somewhere within. I think Alice shares this quality too and both share incredible singing voices. All three of my girls have beautiful singing voices but Alice is perhaps the one we have encouraged most because she has power, strength and tone. She can also animate a song rather than just deliver it.
What other virtues can I extol? I gave her a rather skimpy compliment in reviewing Dude, Where's My Script? in an earlier post by describing her as " a funny lady whose sense of humour is infectious". Alice is a Fanny Brice as played by Fanny Brice not Barbra Streisand (although Alice can certainly render those anthems from " Funny Girl" well enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck). Alice is not very complimentary about herself and is prepared to play the lady wrestler who is now your waitress. She will adopt a physicality in her performance, that, added to her giggle and, on occasion, guffaw, make an audience roar with laughter. Her brain is sharp and her tongue witty enough to put in one liners during improvisational comedy that really sparkle and catch the ear. Mind you, that brain and that tongue can be used to devastating effect in real life if someone is unwise enough to think she is anyone's fall guy.
When I was young I was truly enamoured of the Viking books written by Henry Treece and one of the concepts I took with me into life was that of the shield ring. Men stood side by side in a circle. Your shield would protect the man on your left leaving your sword arm free, while the man on your right would be protecting you and the other side of the circle would protect your back. I have always chosen my friends with the shield ring in mind and I am pleased to say that we would make a compact and strong shield ring although some would be surprised to hear themselves described in the same category as a Viking warrior. I would definitely want my brother at my back though I would have to suffer dreadful ear bashing for getting us into such a ridiculous situation in the first place. I always thought of the shield ring as a masculine preserve but Alice is definitely a character you would want alongside you if you were in difficulty and she would strive mightily on your behalf. Like my brother, though, at the end of the problem or conflict, I think she would tell me off for being such a bloody fool and detail the reasons I qualify for such an epithet.
I love Alice but am a little awestruck. Being a father is not all it's cracked up to be and if you have feisty daughters it can be a lot tougher than you have a right to expect. But, as for being proud, well...don't get me started on that!