FATHER'S TEACH YOUR DAUGHTERS

A couple of nights ago sitting around the table with my son and five of the six grandchildren, we were having a discussion. His wife and the missing sixth grandchild are in China presently so our discussions are spread among just a slight fewer of us...7 versus 9.

Somehow, the conversation moved along from one topic to another but eventually landed on how my mom had this habit of not 'opening' a box but rather 'ripping' into one! I decided along life's path that there was a missing link in her brain somewhere. Shane recalled an incident where my daughter, (his sister) came in my kitchen one day and noticing a torn up Cheerio box, said," Mom, you've become Mimmau"..which in my mind was an 'insult as it pertained to opening things! Reflecting on this particular peculiarity brought to mind another incident that happened the first Christmas I was married to their Dad.

My dad had not spent a lot of quality time with me. The photo I chose for this blog is because he did take me fishing a few times and he also took me frog gigging. Once he had a son after I turned 12 years old, you can just imagine that his interests turned elsewhere.

Anyway, I married young. Eighteen...going on nineteen, I always point out. The first Christmas Mother was quick to point out that Daddy picked out the artificial fruit planter that was on a triangular setting and SHE was responsible for boxing it up. The problem was it was broken as we opened the gift.

I hate to admit this since I am a Christian, but I can only hope that I've forgiven her for breaking that fruit thing. You see, the fact that my DADDY took the time to pick it out made it all the more special to me and I really liked it. It sat on the kitchen table even though it had to be propped up even after I'd carted it around to several 'fix it' places to try to get it welded back together. It was a classy object and REMEMBER, my DADDY had chosen it as a gift for me and my new husband, and that meant everything, but my mother had managed to 'break' it.

In the telling of this story which happened 40+ years ago, I became quite emotional, welling up in tears in front of my son and grandchildren and had to stop and wipe my eyes. That's how deep the feelings go so, for you father's out there who may be reading this and think your influence doesn't count for much -- be assured it accounts far more than the money you earn or gifts you buy! Time is something that cannot be exchanged.

I'm a daughter, but I'm sure it's equally true with sons as well!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to you Dad's because it will be here in just a couple of weeks. I hope you take some special time with both your daughters if you have any...and your sons if you have any and remember just how precious those moments mean even to the time they become grandparents themselves!