Happy Father’s Day
He is not my father, but he is the father that I selected for my children to have. And I don’t think I could’ve chosen a better man on the planet to do this job.
When I first met him, he had very little experience around kids, but he took on the task of joining my huge, crazy family like a champ! The adults loved him, he was respectful, yet could take a joke and give them back. The kids adored him because he would play with them, and they could climb all over him.
When we had Sasha, he was terrific! We had to have a caesarian because she was a frank breach; basically, she was in a “V” with her butt in the birth canal. Eric was in the room with me when she was born, he held my hand the entire time, and then when that beautiful little girl was all done her prep, they handed her to him, and he took her like he’d known what to do all along. He brought her over for a quick little kiss before they had to leave. While I was in recovery, he spent the entire time with her. He held on to that baby so close and didn’t want to let her go. The Grandmothers practically had to fight for an opportunity to hold her even for a second. He was such a proud new Daddy.
He took a couple of weeks off work to be at home with me. He would get up to help with nightly feedings, even though he didn’t have the proper tools. He would say, “If you have to be up, then so should I.” I seriously have no idea how he survived those first few years, I at least got to take naps when she did, he still had to go to work.
On the weekends, he would get up with her in the mornings and let me sleep in. I would wake up and sneak down the stairs or over to the office, depending on where we lived at the time. Eric would have her swaddled in a blanket on his shoulder or snapped in the Snuggie on his chest. He would be busy at his computer, either working or playing a game. Then in the afternoons, they would snuggle on the couch and have their naps together.
As the first few months passed, during the weekdays, Sasha had quickly become aware of timeframes and would know when it was time for her Daddy to be home. She very much looked forward to her lunchtime snuggles with him, as did he. And if he were to be late after work, she would quickly become cranky, she missed her Daddy dearly throughout the day. When Sasha learned how to crawl, she would scuttle so fast across the floor and squeal so loud, Eric would come running in yelling “Baby!”, I wasn’t sure who was more excited to see the other. They were so cute, they had the most incredible bond I had ever seen. They had their own little world they lived in, it was so beautiful to see. Sassy and Daddy, doing their thing.
When we were expecting Rachel, we wanted Sasha to be prepared. We didn’t want her to be jealous, especially of her Daddy. We’d worked hard to make sure she was good at sharing and was polite, always having other kids around to play with and share her toys with. But this was going to be different. This baby wasn’t going to go home at the end of the day.
Eric had planned to take time off work again for a couple of weeks to help out around the house. That was going to be fantastic, as long as everything went well and lined up okay. You see, this baby was planning to come naturally. Fortunately, she worked with us, my water broke hours before labour began. Eric was able to prepare to be away from work for a couple of weeks. Plus, it was the end of the day on a Friday. She did really good.
Sasha loved her baby sister and didn’t mind sharing her Momma and Daddy at all. She smothered baby Rachie in kisses and tried to climb into her car seat all of the time.
Daddy was my hero! Again, he got up in the middle of the night with me for feedings. He would take her and change her diaper and snuggle for a burp. He would rush home at lunch every day to play with his babies and get lunchtime cuddles. He would come back from work, and his girls would either be at the kitchen window or by the baby gate at the stairs waiting for their Daddy.
I decided to start working when Rachel was 11 months old. I got a job working evenings and weekends at a local hotel so that the girls wouldn’t have to be with a sitter much. I would drop them off at 2:30, and Eric would pick them up by 5. He did such a great job during those years.
He would make them supper, play with them, get them ready for bed, put them to bed. He was a Rockstar! If I was on a late shift on the weekends or just not working, Eric would pack up the girls and take them to the office to help Daddy work, or somewhere out of the house so I could sleep in. He was so wonderful!
Remember earlier, I said I come from a huge family? Well, we’d get together at one of my relative’s houses in town regularly. However, with me working evenings, I was often unable to go. He never had to do it, but he’d get the girls dressed up and always took them. I cannot thank him enough for doing that, because the girls will have all of those fun memories of being with my family that they wouldn’t have otherwise had.
He did all sorts of silly things with them that they absolutely loved! We had a big old tree on the side of our property, he taught them how to climb it, plus the one in the back yard. If he had to climb onto the roof, he’d take one of them with him, for an adventure, you know. They got to go on cool trips out to the old paintball fort that Daddy and his friends built and occasionally got to shoot a paintball gun. (Shh, don’t tell Momma) He’d make water balloons for them so they could have water balloon fights. They would have wrestling matches, play parking lot tag on their bikes, and build forts. He even occasionally brought home huge printer boxes for them to turn into temporary playhouses. Daddy let them play in, on, and in the back of his little red truck like a playhouse.
I got the occasional call at work saying, “Don’t panic, but the ambulance is here” or “Don’t panic, but we had to go to the hospital.” Yes, my girls, okay, mostly Sasha, are kinda clumsy. She takes after her Momma. But that is a funny story for another time.
Eric has been there for every piano recital, every Christmas Concert, every fiddle concert (except that one, right boys?), almost every dance contest (and believe me, there was a lot!), and one very special Lindorian Festival.
Eric taught the girls how to play videogames. They both helped him, on many occasions, build computers from scratch. Eric introduced his girls to Star Wars, World of Warcraft, Halo, Worms, and Monty Python. Plus, to Rachel, he not only introduced, but has spent countless hours watching and sharing her love of Scooby-Doo.
Eric has taught his girls how to drive, change a tire, charge a car battery, and pump gas. He has waited up all night, worried at times. He has had to listen to me, telling him to trust them. And at times, let them figure it out on their own. There have been many fights, and there have been many tears. But I would not change any of it for all of the money in the world because I picked the best man to be the Daddy for my baby girls. You want to know how I know this? Because my girls are amazing, smart, beautiful, and polite young women, and they learned a lot from their Daddy!
Happy Father’s Day Eric!
Comments
Enjoyed reading your story. You brought back a lot of memories. I havevto agree. You picked an excellent dad for the girls and also an excellent husband.❤