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Father's
Day
Daddies
and Slippery Socks...
A Salute for Father's Day
 There's
just something about a daddy.
If mom is
sustained, lasting light, dad is a spark. It's certainly true
in my family, where the men simply produce a different kind of
energy. Dads and Grandpas are wonderfully familiar but, at the
same time, exotic.
Some of my
most vivid memories from childhood took place during weekend car
rides, just me and my Dad. They are engraved in my memory not
because we did anything particularly exciting or adventurous -
these were mostly just weekly errands, with the occasional stop
at a donut shop. And it wasn't the conversation; we didn't talk
a whole lot. There was just something different about being with
him.
It's that
way in the family I've created, too. For my daughters, Cassie
and Calliope, Daddy is an exclamation point at the end of each
day.
I'm sure two-year-old
Cassie doesn't know how to tell time, but at precisely 6:30 every
weeknight, she's got her nose pressed against the glass, waiting
for daddy's truck to rumble up the driveway.
Calliope,
almost three months old, coos and grins at me all day, but when
Dad comes home, her muscles start to work. She starts making little
jabs with her arms and legs. Her mouth forms an o-shape. She's
a picture of pure concentration.
When my daughter
and I were living with my parents awaiting Calliope's birth, Grandpa
would announce his arrival each evening with two quick honks.
"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Cassie would run to the door so
fast that her socks would send her sliding across the linoleum.
The wide-eyed
way Cassie looks at the men in her life just melts my heart. I
can only imagine what it does to them. Like most toddlers, her
whole face has a feeling, not just her mouth.
I wonder how
things would change - with our husbands, our fathers, our mothers,
our children, our friends - if we all greeted one another like
this. If we carried this intensity into all of our relationships.
If we ran so fast we slid to greet the important people in our
lives.
A recent Oprah
episode had Toni Morrison asking, "Do your eyes light up
when your children come into the room?" Because that's what
they are looking for, she said.
I find myself
reflecting on that wisdom frequently. Because isn't that what
we're all looking for?
Today, see
if you can make sure someone finds it.
About the
Author...
Susie Michelle Cortright is the author of More
Energy for Moms and founder of a "just for you" website:
Momscape.com,
designed to help busy women find balance.
Visit More
Energy for Moms today and get Susie's course-by-email "6
Days to Less Stress" free.
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