Daddy's Girl

As you may have noticed, I have not discussed my father. Dad was always around, but we weren’t close. I knew from stories, Dad was a Don Juan with the ladies, and my mother followed suit. She was a girl smitten by a man. Today we call this molestation of a child. I have issues with how I was conceived, but I’m thankful to be here, and I’m grateful for my parents.

With that being said, Dad and I had a non traditional relationship. When I was a little girl, he came around sometimes, his girlfriends had more to do with that. I think I was a way for them to stay with Dad. Show interest in his daughter, get in good with him. Other times Dad came to see me, and mom, if you know what I mean.

At 12, my relationship with my father came to a halt. Welfare was suing my Dad for back child support, and listening to his attorney, he denied paternity. This broke my heart. On the day my mom, dad, and I had to give blood for a paternity test I told him he wasn’t my father and I didn’t want to see him again. This would last for six years.

My mother encouraged me to see my dad my last year of high school. Our relationship was awkward at best. Here I was a young woman, and to him I was that 12 yr old girl. We got reacquainted throughout my college years and young adulthood. I had to learn to lean on him emotionally and stop using him for material gain. I was in his wedding. Ironically 11 years later, he gave me away at mine.

Dad was a rock for me when my mom went into hospice, dying of colon cancer. He held me as I burst into tears looking at her lifeless body. And he was with me throughout her memorial service, being my father. Months later he was there when my daughter was born, being a proud granddad. We aren’t around one another much because of me moving to another town, but every visit or call feels like we just pick up where we left off. I love my Dad, just because he is.