Fatherhood is the greatest gift
Fatherhood is the greatest gift
By: Doug Dickerson
06/16/2006
I stood in the studios of a photographer last week as my oldest daughter was being photographed for her high school senior pictures. There she was all grown up and looking as pretty as ever. As quickly as the camera flashed her pictures my mind flashed back to the day she was born. After 36 hours of labor for my wife, countless sodas for me and a few baseball games on TV she came into and forever changed my world.I recall some disappointed visitors to the hospital nursery when they came by to see her. Being the attentive Dad that I was, I recalled the nurse telling us that we were free to come get her anytime we wanted from the nursery. Therefore, I did just that. Several frightened and alarmed nurses quickly reminded me that I did have to notify them first.
One day a few months later my wife called me at the office and asked if I would be so kind as to pick up some rice cereal for the baby on the way home for lunch. Naturally, there was nothing I wouldn't do for my baby girl. Browsing the aisle in the supermarket, I looked intently for the rice cereal. As you would expect, there were many selections, but for my tastes and certainly for that of my new daughter I found the perfect choice. Proud to be of help to my wife and to bring home some rice cereal for my little one; I was a bit puzzled by the look on my wife's face when I gave it to her. Besides being too big to make it through the nipple of the bottle, Popeye's Puffed Rice cereal was just too big for our little baby!
Amazingly, both of my girls have managed to survive the trials and ordeals of my Fatherhood experience. There have certainly been bumps along the way but never a dull moment - like the observation my youngest made not too long ago as I was cooking dinner, "Dad, we have a fire!"
The other day I bumped into my ole friend Fred. Fred is retired from the mill and likes to hang out in the lobby of the bank to escape the elements and to enjoy a few minutes away from the "little woman" at home when her bridge club meets. Fred observed that the greatest thing he ever did was to raise three daughters. "Nothing will make a man out of you quicker than to raise girls. It's certainly not for the faint of heart," he said. As one who blazed that trail long before I did, I took comfort in his words.
Ernest Hemingway once observed, "To be a successful father, there's one absolute rule: When you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years." However, by not doing so, one would miss the beauty of what being a Father is all about - joy.I've had the joy of seeing through the eyes of my girls a kinder world, shared in a lot of laughter, love, and have been encouraged about the future. Overall, I think they have done a great job raising their Dad. Thanks girls!
©Summerville Journal-Scene 2006
By: Doug Dickerson
06/16/2006
I stood in the studios of a photographer last week as my oldest daughter was being photographed for her high school senior pictures. There she was all grown up and looking as pretty as ever. As quickly as the camera flashed her pictures my mind flashed back to the day she was born. After 36 hours of labor for my wife, countless sodas for me and a few baseball games on TV she came into and forever changed my world.I recall some disappointed visitors to the hospital nursery when they came by to see her. Being the attentive Dad that I was, I recalled the nurse telling us that we were free to come get her anytime we wanted from the nursery. Therefore, I did just that. Several frightened and alarmed nurses quickly reminded me that I did have to notify them first.
One day a few months later my wife called me at the office and asked if I would be so kind as to pick up some rice cereal for the baby on the way home for lunch. Naturally, there was nothing I wouldn't do for my baby girl. Browsing the aisle in the supermarket, I looked intently for the rice cereal. As you would expect, there were many selections, but for my tastes and certainly for that of my new daughter I found the perfect choice. Proud to be of help to my wife and to bring home some rice cereal for my little one; I was a bit puzzled by the look on my wife's face when I gave it to her. Besides being too big to make it through the nipple of the bottle, Popeye's Puffed Rice cereal was just too big for our little baby!
Amazingly, both of my girls have managed to survive the trials and ordeals of my Fatherhood experience. There have certainly been bumps along the way but never a dull moment - like the observation my youngest made not too long ago as I was cooking dinner, "Dad, we have a fire!"
The other day I bumped into my ole friend Fred. Fred is retired from the mill and likes to hang out in the lobby of the bank to escape the elements and to enjoy a few minutes away from the "little woman" at home when her bridge club meets. Fred observed that the greatest thing he ever did was to raise three daughters. "Nothing will make a man out of you quicker than to raise girls. It's certainly not for the faint of heart," he said. As one who blazed that trail long before I did, I took comfort in his words.
Ernest Hemingway once observed, "To be a successful father, there's one absolute rule: When you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years." However, by not doing so, one would miss the beauty of what being a Father is all about - joy.I've had the joy of seeing through the eyes of my girls a kinder world, shared in a lot of laughter, love, and have been encouraged about the future. Overall, I think they have done a great job raising their Dad. Thanks girls!
©Summerville Journal-Scene 2006
posted by Doug Dickerson | 8:15 PM
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