Listening to a piece on NPR en route to work this morning, I almost stopped the car to be sure I would not miss a single word. An 8-year-old girl, Kioni "Popcorn'' Marshall, was talking with her dad as part of the StoryCorps series, which is designed to celebrate lives through listening.

Listen I did.

Kioni's parents were separated for five years of her young life. Now reconciled, they and their family were the subject for this brief but extraordinarily touching exchange between dad and daughter. The father, Beau Harris, asked his daughter if either of her parents had ever disappointed her. Each had, she told him. Her mother because she waited until Kioni was 5 to broach the idea of meeting Harris. Her dad had been a disappointment, she said, because he had been absent for so many years of Kioni's life. But he made her proud when, as she put it, he "came to my life.''

Hearing a grown man ask his little girl whether he'd been a source of pride and disappointment was deeply moving. In many ways, it was almost a revelation. And it got me to thinking. I've never asked my daughter how I've made her proud, or in what ways I might have made her sad. The roles in this whole child/parent thing are typically in reverse. We parents easily share prideful moments with our children, but just as quickly express our disapproval or sadness when they come up short -- in homework, on the soccer field, in relationships with friends.

I think I'll broach the topic with my daughter this weekend, and see what she has to say. Her response might make me feel ashamed, or joy-filled. Either way, it's a conversation we should have had long before this.