The Don

Who IS that handsome fella, you ask?

Why, that's my dad.

As I watch the course of my life and the lives of others around me unfold, I find myself reflecting on how much I really love him.

I have a close friend who has been standing by her father's side as he's fighting a long and difficult battle with cancer. I have no experience of the type of heartache that must be felt in situations like that. I can only know what it feels like to love someone so much you never want to see them hurt. 

Last month, I heard news of singer Steven Curtis Chapman losing one of his beautiful daughters in a tragic accident. I watched a memorial video of this father and daughter, washing dishes together as he played his guitar, singing a silly song with his giggling daughter, the love between them so simple and precious. I think of how much he must have loved her, how much he would have done anything to protect her. Because that's just what fathers do.

That video hit a chord with me as I remember similar times with my own dad, strumming his guitar to sing me to sleep at night. He only knew a few old folk songs, lyrics sometimes forgotten, chorus repeated again and again. It didn't matter to me what the song, he could sing the same words over and over again if it meant he would keep singing to me.

He still owns that old guitar, the years of playing worn into its grains. The wood may be faded but my memories are not.

At this time in my life, as a single, 30 year old woman, I've grown accustomed to being very independent, handling things as best I am capable on my own. While not always easy, I take pride in the fact that it's made me into the person I am. But that place could never have been arrived at entirely without the unconscious knowledge of my parent's support. Of my father's silent dedication to always being there for his family.

A father's love - like a beacon on a wide open sea, standing steadfast. We can find comfort in its constance, we can rely on the strength of its vessel to safely lead us on our way, knowing that even as we move forward, there it will always remain, faithfully.