This entry was posted on Sunday, April 24th, 2011 at 12:13 am and is filed under Family Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I expected the tantrums. I expected the whining, the sleepless nights, the fatigue and the frustration. I expected that there would be a great many things about my life which I loved entirely, even by which I defined myself, that I would be forced to give up and only watch other younger, more fortunate men enjoy while I begrudgingly lugged a stroller and diaper bag up and down the sidelines. I expected resentment.
But I did not expect you.
I did not expect that tiny little bundle of wrinkled skin, tubes and wires to grow up into a beautiful young girl. I did not expect you to become the pain that only a father who has failed his daughter in some way ––an overzealous scolding, a disappointing Christmas, a missed ballet recital-–bears well after you have all but forgotten the failure. I did not expect that, after long, hard days in the office, I would race home past younger, less fortunate men simply enthralled in the privilege of seeing your smiling face and the warmth in my soul when you jump into my arms.
And I most certainly did not expect that, without even trying, you would manage to take a world that I thought was perfect and show me how much more sublime it could be while in orbit around you.
Happy Birthday, Frankie. You will always be my special girl.
-Matt
