In Praise of Fathers (Happy Father's Day 2018!)

“I found my necklace. Do you think that you could get it fixed?” I asked my husband with reluctance.

See, just this past Christmas he had redesigned a pendant that my first daughter had tugged on and broke when she was a baby. He transformed it into a beautiful necklace with all the upgrades a girl could desire.

It didn’t matter, though. Not to me anyway. I kept asking where the original was and he kept replying “it was lost." So ensued the debate of which necklace was more beautiful, more valuable.

And I, being me, was determined to win.

But it was never a matter of how sweet and romantic it was for my husband to redesign me a more sparkly version of my original. I knew that he knew just how devastated I was when it broke and I could no longer wear it any more. I knew how excited he was to give me something new and shiny, something we could have never imagined being able to afford when he gave me the original on my 26th birthday, 7 months pregnant with my first baby girl.

I knew all of that, yet I could not let go of the sentiment and moment of that first necklace he ever bought me. Because the truth is that it was one hundred percent about the moment and milestone that we were experiencing together back then and never about the present itself.

We were both scared silly to be new parents. Heck, we had just started figuring out the whole “staying married” thing. It had not been an easy path for us to get to where we were, but somehow we had made it through alive, and most importantly, together.

This man, who was about to be called “Daddy,” had become my best friend, my hero, and the love I never expected to be my great romance. And it was all a frickin’ miracle to me. I knew that no matter what, he was going to stand by me, stand up for me, and walk with me down this next road that life was taking us on.

Crazy dude. He loved me unconditionally in a way I did not know existed. And I knew with every fiber of my being that he would love our baby girl with that same fierce love.

And he hasn’t let us down, two baby girls later.

I know that I do not give him enough credit for all the sacrifices he makes day-in and day-out to be the best father and husband he can be. He did not have a great example of this in his life, so he’s basically making it up as he goes along… And nailing it every time.

He changes diapers, washes dishes, and puts two (actually 3) sleepy girls to bed almost every night. And I do take that for granted.

So every time I wear my beautiful necklace that he gave me on my 26th birthday, 7 months pregnant with our first baby girl, I remember who he is and just how much he means to me. I am so lucky he’s ours and I hate that I forget that sometimes.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddies out there giving their families their best and loving fiercely!

~ Casey V. Dye

Father's Day 2018 is Sunday June 17th