My Dad

Forty-some years ago my dad was courting my mom. He came to the house where my mom lived with me and my older sister. He came for a visit. He wanted to get close to my mom. He knew she had two daughters but he still wanted to get close to that gal. I was still a baby ... probably not even two years old. He came to the house and noticed that my mom was cooking something on the stove. It was a pot of onion soup. He looked around and realized that she was feeding us onion soup because that was all she had to feed us. He turned off the stove and told her to get the girls together because he was taking her to the grocery store.

When I was in fourth grade I broke my arm on the playground. The school nurse called home and since my dad worked nights he was home to answer the phone. He raced to the school and then drove me to the emergency room. He told me how brave I was because I didn't cry on the way to the hospital.

When I was a teenager I sang the song Evergreen for my father and to this day he remembers it and gets a little teary.

He read my diary but he never confronted me or humiliated me about what he had read.

He walked me down the aisle when I got married and at the reception he didn't mind sharing the "father-daughter" dance with my mom's first husband. However, right before I went to dance with him my dad said to me, "You are my daughter."

I remember the look on his face when I was in labor with the Prince at my dad's house. He was so scared for me. Actually, I think he was scared that he would have to deliver a baby. He was so relieved when my mom showed up.

He sat and listened when I told him that I was leaving my first husband. I just needed him to listen.

When I moved to VA and my second husband went out to sea my dad wanted me to come back home. He didn't see any reason for me and the Prince to be alone.

My dad never made any distinction between me and his biological kids. The words "step children" were never uttered in our home.

I love my dad.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!