ANOTHER FATHERS DAY

 IT HAS BEEN 38 FATHERS DAYS SINCE I CELEBRATED WITH MY DADDY.

I CAME TO HIM WHEN HE THOUGHT HIS FAMILY WAS COMPLETE...

AGAIN!

AT 45, HE DID NOT KNOW WHAT HE WAS GETTING INTO.

YET, HE WAS THE BEST DADDY TO ME.

AS A YOUNG CHILD, I DIDN'T REALIZE JUST HOW LUCKY I WAS.

I THOUGHT ALL DADDY'S WERE LIKE HIM.

AS I GOT OLDER, I UNDERSTOOD THAT THIS MAN WAS MORE THAN JUST A DAD.

WHEN FIGHTING CANCER AT 5, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN 50.

MY MEMORIES ARE OF HIM ALWAYS BEING THERE.

WHEN THE CHILDREN'S WARD SAID VISITING HOURS WERE OVER,

PARENTS HAD TO LEAVE THEIR SICK CHILDREN ALONE.

MY DADDY REFUSED. 

HE WOULD LEAVE FOR A VERY SHORT TIME RIGHT AFTER THE 

ANNOUNCEMENT THAT VISITING WAS OVER.

THIS IS WHEN ALL THE BABIES AND CHILDREN WOULD START TO CRY, SCREAM.

I DIDN'T CRY, ALTHOUGH THEIR CRIES I CAN STILL HEAR IN MY HEART.

MY DEAR DADDY WOULD SNEAK BACK IN TO ROCK OR PUT ME TO SLEEP.

AS HE LAYED ME DOWN IN MY METAL CRIB 

I NEVER WONDERED WHERE HE WOULD BE.

I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO ROCK OTHER PEOPLE'S BABIES.

HE DID THIS NIGHT AFTER NIGHT.

MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THIS ABOUT MY DADDY,

MY SISTER, CELENA JUST FOUND THIS OUT ABOUT A YEAR AGO.

WE HAD AN UNSPOKEN BOND, MY DADDY AND I.

I WAS TO ALWAYS BE HIS BABY AND HE MY PROTECTOR.

JUST ONE OF THE MANY STORIES THAT WILL FOREVER LIVE IN ME.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY!