Fathers
When I was a child, on the days I thought I might someday get married, I'd try to envision what my spouse would look like.
I always figured I'd meet someone tall, with dark hair and dark eyes, someone that resembled my father, at least in the looks department. Most of the men I dated did not fit that criteria, and to this day, I don't know why. Perhaps the tall, dark, brooding type is not attracted to the lady with the chameleon hair.
And then I met Tim. Short, with dark blond hair and bright green eyes. At least that is what he looked like after playing sand volleyball all spring and summer in the sun. We hit it off right from the beginning, and spent quite a bit of time together over the summer of 1998. I found out that he was fiercely competitive, athletic and strong, intelligent, and goofy. Not only that, he was forthright. Tim told me that he loved me one month into our relationship.
A million things ran through my head the moment I heard him say those words. I could panic, I could run in the opposite direction, I could just walk away. I'd done all of those things before. Instead, I thought better of all that, and just went with being honest. "I can't say that right now," I remember saying to him, knowing that I might be hurting him in the process. "It is just too soon." He looked at me with his eyes glowing of love, and smiled. "That's okay," he replied. "Take your time."
To make a long story short, we got married 2 years later, and had 4 kids in the span of 6 and 1/2 years. Sometimes, I think I have a fifth child in Tim, but when I look at him and how he is with our own children, I realize that while he doesn't necessarily resemble my father in terms of his appearance, I somehow managed to marry a man very much like my father. Both of them are loyal to a fault, have quick tempers, and somehow manage to throw in a bad joke in any situation. Actually, Tim's jokes are better than my dad's, but I find myself eye-rolling now as much as I did back when I lived at my parent's house.
I couldn't ask for a better spouse and the kids couldn't ask for a better dad. And despite the fact that I went off to college and got liberal, which only makes my dad's head ache, I still love him dearly. So Happy Father's Day to the two men in my life that probably shaped me more than I am willing to admit!
I always figured I'd meet someone tall, with dark hair and dark eyes, someone that resembled my father, at least in the looks department. Most of the men I dated did not fit that criteria, and to this day, I don't know why. Perhaps the tall, dark, brooding type is not attracted to the lady with the chameleon hair.
And then I met Tim. Short, with dark blond hair and bright green eyes. At least that is what he looked like after playing sand volleyball all spring and summer in the sun. We hit it off right from the beginning, and spent quite a bit of time together over the summer of 1998. I found out that he was fiercely competitive, athletic and strong, intelligent, and goofy. Not only that, he was forthright. Tim told me that he loved me one month into our relationship.
A million things ran through my head the moment I heard him say those words. I could panic, I could run in the opposite direction, I could just walk away. I'd done all of those things before. Instead, I thought better of all that, and just went with being honest. "I can't say that right now," I remember saying to him, knowing that I might be hurting him in the process. "It is just too soon." He looked at me with his eyes glowing of love, and smiled. "That's okay," he replied. "Take your time."
To make a long story short, we got married 2 years later, and had 4 kids in the span of 6 and 1/2 years. Sometimes, I think I have a fifth child in Tim, but when I look at him and how he is with our own children, I realize that while he doesn't necessarily resemble my father in terms of his appearance, I somehow managed to marry a man very much like my father. Both of them are loyal to a fault, have quick tempers, and somehow manage to throw in a bad joke in any situation. Actually, Tim's jokes are better than my dad's, but I find myself eye-rolling now as much as I did back when I lived at my parent's house.
I couldn't ask for a better spouse and the kids couldn't ask for a better dad. And despite the fact that I went off to college and got liberal, which only makes my dad's head ache, I still love him dearly. So Happy Father's Day to the two men in my life that probably shaped me more than I am willing to admit!
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