In my younger days, I did not see my Dad very often. His work hours
were typically 4 PM – 12 AM, meaning he was gone before I got home from
school and I was usually asleep by the time he got home from work. On
the days he was on call at the hospital, I would spend the night
snuggled with my Mom in their bed. We spent weekends and vacations
together, but I had never thought of myself as a “Daddy’s little girl”
type. I was always close with my Mom, but felt somewhat distant from my
Dad.
As I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize a lot of things.
There are few dads that will:
- Buy fruit on every vacation to have at the hotel to ensure you’re getting your daily dose of fruit
- Remind you when your water filter in your fridge needs to be changed
- Spot you in Las Vegas, NV in the shortest dress you’ve ever worn when he thought you were in Irvine, CA, go back to the hotel room and just say to your Mom casually “Guess who I just saw.”
- Call you every fourth of July to let you hear the yearly firework he is setting off in the backyard, and leave it on voice mail if you miss the call
- Be over prepared for everything and anything you may need or need to know in any situation: when going to college, on vacation, in life.
I’ve mostly come to realize that although we never had the “Daddy’s
little girl” type of relationship, in the Dad category of life, I
couldn’t have been more lucky.
