daddy....

happy fathers day Dad's!!!!
There's something about becoming a Father... not everyone chooses to, not everyone should... some jump into it way too soon and those Dads either stay in for the long haul or bail out cuz their afraid. Some are incapable and others are more then capable. There's so many possibilities when it comes to Fathers. As they say, it's easy to become a Father, it takes a special man to become a Daddy...
 The bottom line for the child is, they don't get to pick their Daddy. You are an innocent human being, naive to what the future holds and you get what you get without knowing what that means...
I know many kinds of Daddy's.  In my own life I have many surrounding me. All of them have their stories.
My Daddy has his stories... he has been a Father 6 times, but a Daddy for 4. I was blessed to be one of the 4...
My Daddy was 35 when I was born. My parents planned on having me. I was born in my Daddy's home state and even the same hospital as him in Providence, RI. At the time, we lived in a trailer on my Grandparents farm. I entered this world on May 2, 1973. My Daddy shares memories of me laying on his chest giggling and happy. I was a happy baby! As I grew and we moved to California,  I can remember a happy family... Disneyland, zoo, beach, family gatherings... I had 2 older sisters who were very special, taking care of me and playing with me... Daddy was around for all of it.
In my school years, Daddy worked hard providing for our family, yet I remember him being at all my softball games, all my school functions, Sunday church and everything else we did as a family. I use to sit with Daddy and watch the fights, we'd ride dirt toys together, go to races... I was 1 of 4 girls, he had no boys, so I was the one who did the "boy stuff" with Daddy.
Daddy was cool! All my friends loved him! And he always had the first and best of everything! I remember when the "car phone" came out!!! A huge box placed in the car with a giant phone attached. He was always "the man".
Lots of toys, lots of fun, lots of love!
We had everything kids could want! But more then materialism, we had love and support. Daddy was always there for us. Supportive, encouraging, loving and fun!
As I reached my pre adulthood... life made drastic changes. Some issues surfaced that I wasn't prepared for... life had always been picture perfect... now, I was thrown a curve ball! But here's what is special... I had a relationship with my Daddy that allowed me the freedom and privilege of confronting and discussing the issue/s which allowed healing and the ability to move forward and continue a life of the wonderful Father/Daughter relationship we always had.
Daddy moved away in my early 20's. He and my Mommy divorced and it broke my heart. Daddy moved back to RI where he could live with my grandparents. He had lost his business and his wife and had nothing left in California. 3 out of 4 of us daughters were out of state at that time and he needed to be home with his parents.
When I moved back to California he wasn't here. It was so hard to be so far from him. I would go visit him at least once a year and he would come out here about the same. But it just wasn't the way it used to be.
January 2007, my oldest sister and I went back to help Daddy with an accident he had. We realized on that trip that we had to work on getting Daddy back on the west coast so we could help him. He never remarried (which we are happy about ;) and he had no one to help him back east. My grandfather had passed away and my grandmother was being taken care of by my Aunts. He lived alone and the winters were rough.
In the next couple years, I made it my mission to figure a way to get Daddy out with me.... finally, I did it! He moved here to help me at our pizzeria! He moved into our guest room and he helped us for about a year, until he had a V TAC which was a severe heart condition. Fortunately, he was here and with us... and for the next 2 years he would have one more heart problem and brain surgery. Having his daughters near him was the best medicine and  having us all living close to him would be his dream come true...
All of us sisters were in Cali except one, so that became the next mission!
Daddy and I worked on that for a few years until finally, last year, we got her down too!
Today, Daddy has 4 out of 6 of his girls within 2 hours of him. 1 more within 5 hours and another only 3 hour flight.
Daddy and I spend lots of time together and he is there for me and the kids for everything we do. Daddy and I have many talks about life, business and family and we share in so many laughs and good times!
I have truly been blessed by the Daddy I have been assigned by the Lord and he has definitely influenced who I am today. Happy Father's Day Daddy! I love you immensely.