My Daddy

My friend Josh over in Joshland wrote a very touching story about his father.  It made me think of my daddy and some great memories I have of him.  One in particular that stays with me and makes me smile is this one:

When I was in 7th grade my mom and her boyfriend at the time got job offers in Atlanta GA, which they decided to take.  It was a new experience and we were going to pack up and move down south.

At this point in my life my parents had been divorced a good 10 years or so.  Every other weekend my brother and I would go up to my dad's to visit.  He would pick us up on Friday night and drop us off Sunday afternoons/evenings.  I was a very shy child and since I didn't really grow up with my dad, I was nervous around him.  I remember getting flowers on Friday nights from him, trying to bribe me so I wouldn't cry.  There was a guy (he is still there too) that sold flowers out of a bucket right next to the train station.  We would stop and he would get them for me.  I think I loved my dad, but I wasn't really sure about him.  I was 3 when my parents split up so I don't have any memories of him living with us.  Given this history, what happened when we decided to move 800 miles south was shocking.

I remember it clearly.  My dad dropped us off that Sunday night.  I think it was to be the last weekend we spent with him until Christmas (when we came up and spent a week with him in Vermont).  I remember the house, the green sofa next to the front door and sitting on the arm of it while we said good-bye.  Then out of nowhere I started bawling my eyes out and telling him I didn't want to leave him.  Much like in the movie the Patriot when Mel Gibson's little girl finally talks to him and starts sobbing for him to stay.  That scene always makes me think of that melt down I had with my daddy.  I can remember hugging him tight and crying.  I was 12 and finally realized how much I did love my daddy.  And since that point he has been my daddy through and through.  I love him to pieces and can't imagine life without him.

We may not talk all the time, but I know he is there.  I know if I needed anything he would be here.