I’ll always remember the first time I told my wife, “I love you.” My parents have always said “I love you” to me and my sisters as often as possible. My wife and I say it to our kids all the time, and our 3.7 year old daughter, Babs, says it back to us.
But last night was different…I experienced one “I love you” that I will remember for a long, long time.
We’ve had quite a journey with Babs. The beginning was hard as she was taken away from us at birth, rushed to the PICU, and then transferred to a new hospital the next day where she had open-heart surgery to save her life. As our little girl has grown up, she has become rather strong-minded, and most times she goes to bed for the night it turns into a fight. She wants a water bottle, she wants Minnie Mouse, she wants a book…she’ll keep asking (or demanding), until we can’t take it anymore. The nights can be challenging because she always wants more, more, more!
Fast forward to last night. My wife was out to dinner with her girlfriends. I put my son Tommy to bed first, and then I went in with Babs. She said, “Daddy, can you come cuddle with me?”
I pushed a bean bag chair over by her bed, and was laying on it right next to her when she said, “Daddy, can you put your head on my Ladybug pillow with me?”
I rested my head on her pillow, and she said, “Daddy, can you hold me?” I put by arm around her as she started hugging me, and I said, “I love you.”
Babs breathed a couple times and then said, “I love you too.” As soon as she finished saying it, she was sleeping peacefully.
Now, that’s fatherhood.