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I Love You, Dad
Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters, there is something which there are no words to express.
So said Joseph Addison, seventeenth-century essayist, playwright, and politician who, alongside his friend Richard Steele, founded the first Spectator magazine in 1711. Pretty smart for such an old-timer.
Happy Father’s Day to Dads here and everywhere. Treasure each other, hug each other, love each other. And don’t forget to say it. Life is short and unpredictable. Regret is forever. Don’t be that guy. Or that gal.
When I’m at my best, I’m my father’s daughter–Anonymous
Please share a memory or two of fathers, sons, and daughters.
Published in General
As far as I know, Addison married late in life, and had no daughter of his own. Does that make his observation any less true? I think not.
The letter Jenny sent to Mr. She, on Father’s Day 2015:
Isn’t that hard to do, between the visor and the chin guard?
I just finished reading Primal, Mark Batterson’s discussion of the greatest commandment. That is, to love the LORD with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. I see all of these elements of the human nature addressed in this letter. It seems that God made fathers with the purpose in mind of having them assist in developing these in their children.
I think you are right.
OTOH, Jenny and I have a very different relationship. But perhaps stepmothers have a purpose in life too. Here’s what she wrote about me, in 2003, when a group of us (from England and the US) visited Venice. My sister, who was the trip organizer, thought it would be nice, since many of the women didn’t know each other, to send a short email to the group, describing ourselves, background, interests, etc. Jenny and I decided to do this by writing letters of introduction for each other (very old-school). Here’s what she wrote about me (I’ve posted this on Ricochet before):
LOL.
Man, that Jenny can write a letter. Those might be the best two letters I’ve ever read.
That’s quite a mane of hair you have there. Good enough, I think, to grace someone’s pet blond pony.
Can she ever. You do not want to be on the receiving end of a letter from Jenny when she strikes in defense of those she loves. Trust me on that. It used to be said of me, during my illustrious (!) IT career, that I had two lethal weapons, a tongue and a pen, but Jenny is a nonpareil on both counts. Thank God she loves me.
Thanks, Other Favorite English Professor. I’ll pass that on.
LOL. That’s not the longest it ever was, either.
Senior year of HS, I had no idea where I was going to college even past graduation, because my acceptance into LSE was conditional on AP scores. (I needed 2 fives from the tests I did that year). Massachusetts happened to be in the cohort that was getting the scores absolutely last that year, too. But one of my friends decided to take mercy on me, bought a VPN, and logged into my account on his computer to get them a week ahead of time. We live in the middle of nowhere, and have cruddy cell reception, so I was standing in the attic of our house on the phone with him, waiting to get the news, where my dad was doing some home improvement stuff. When he told me that I had the right scores, I ran across the room like a crazy person, and kind of jumped on my dad from behind crying. He caught me, and when he finally figured out what I was saying, twirled me around like I was 5 again, and then ran down to tell my uncle (they share a shop).
This year, I was out on a run late at night when I got an email from one of the grad schools I applied to. Every letter I had gotten so far was a rejection, and this was my dream reach school, so I figured it was more of the same and opened the letter to have it done with. It was an acceptance letter. Once I had raced down the street yelling “Oh my G-d, I got into [redacted]” like a crazy person, I called him through WhatsApp. Didn’t even let him get through saying hello, just started shouting the same thing. He was so, so happy. He was also at a job site, and I could hear someone yelling from behind to ask what was going on, and him saying that he would tell them in a minute, because it was too good a kind of news to say ‘half-a**ed.’ Because my mom was at the gym, he called with her a couple hours later, and convinced her that I had accepted an internship in Afghanistan, because there were so many rejections and I felt I was out of options. She believed it, too. So the surprise was all the better when, after I nodded along with what he said, I told her that I actually wasn’t doing that.
He’s the best.
Wonderful stories, thanks. Indeed he is. And congratuations you!