Her Big Day Through Her Father’s Eyes
Her big day has finally come. It’s the day that he’s been dreading for over a year now, ever since hearing the news. But for the sake of her happiness, he will pretend to be overjoyed as he shakes the hand of the man who is taking his little girl away from him forever.
He wonders how it can be that time can pass so quickly. Where did it go? It seems as if it were only yesterday that he was getting up in the middle of the night to soothe her, as she battled through yet another colic attack. He’d pick her up out of her crib and walk with her tiny body pressed against his chest for hours before it would ease up sometimes. When it had finally passed, he’d lay her back down in the crib, and marvel at the innocence of her sleeping face. The sun was often already up by the time he crawled back under his king quilt and went to sleep.
Thankfully that phase eventually passed, and before long she was swinging along the monkey bars at the local playground with the rest of neighborhood’s kids. She soon began to outgrow her clothes at a rate he could barely keep up with. There was not a month that went by when he did not have to head to the nearest department store in search of girls shirts, shorts, and shoes. Sometimes, she had the chance to wear something only once or twice before it grew too small for her.
Then it was the terrible teens. How he wished at the time that her mother was still around to help guide their little girl thorough them. How can a father explain things about a woman’s biology that he’s never experienced for himself? But he tried anyway, and somehow they got through it.
Then she started college, and almost overnight, turned into the very image of her mother when he’d first met her. The resemblance sometimes made his heart ache as the too few memories came flooding back. Had they really only had a few brief years together, before she left his life forever?
Sooner than expected, she dropped the bombshell. They were in jewelery section at a nearby department store, when she drew his attention to the display of mens wedding bands. His heart had dropped through the floor, but he kept the smile on his face as he congratulated her. Robert was a good man, after all, and he could not think of a better person to entrust his daughter to.
As the day ends, and he watches the two of them heading off towards their new life together, he can’t help but feel a father’s pride. She looked absolutely radiant on this, her big day. Surely there had never been a bride more beautiful than his little girl.
