Daddies

There was a theme about my day and I thought I would share. I work at Sylvan Learning Center as well as at the high school and today was my day to administer test. I had the privledge of working with a beautiful, funny, smart little girl for two hours. Her dad brought her in, a little nervous and little more than unsure. You could see an aura of protection emitting from him the whole time. He had brought her with a bag of doughnut holes and with her hair in pigtails and leaving her was the last thing he wanted to do. He shared with me that he is her biological dad but she lives with her mom and stepdad. He didn't know some information that I could tell he thought he should have and he felt guilty...but he did know that she loves "High School Musical" :) When he picked her up, he asked how he would recieve progress reports since he wouldn't be at the meetings..could he have them e-mailed or faxed or a phone call. How would he know? He walked outside with her, kissed her, picked her up (even though she is in second grade) and carried her to the car. My co-worker was watching this with me and commented on how sweet but sad this moment was. It made me miss my dad and the days when he could pick me up and make the problems of the world disappear.

I came home and was writng "Twisted" by Laurie Halse Anderson and was amazed at the father/son relationship in the story. A dad who roared and bellowed and loved..but didn't know how to show it. It talked about how a parent can kill their child without ever laying a hand on them and the things we should learn from our parent's mistakes. I cried again.

I moved down to the computer to check facebook and all things important and saw that there was a new message on my buddy Mike's blog. The story of baby Mia and the fight she and her parents are in seemed to fit in so perfectly with my day to remind me that I should be thankful for the life I life. Thankful for stinky teenagers with more issues than "The New Yorker". Thankful for my mother and the problems that she feels willing to talk to me about. Thankful for a best friend to be mad at..thankful.

I added Mike's blog so you can check out Baby Mia and the pictures he took of her and her family. God is good.

http://mikesteelman.com/blog/