In that amazing memorable moment, she walked straight to my father without a
second beckoning, without us urging her on, She had a cute grin on her face as she
walked to him (It's an emotional moment for me still).
My father felt her face with his hands, as blind people would do (In the movies) to get a
bearing and he said she was beautiful.
He smiled as he said it. My daughter smiled also. Oh, me... I could not get the frozen
grin off my face.
I had never heard my father say any type of af rmative words like that before. I'm not
saying that was his rst time saying such. I know better. I was just surprised he seemed
comfortable saying it,
My father never said "I love you", hugged me, kissed me on the forehead or showed
any kind of affection towards me, nor did I ever witness those affections towards my
siblings from him. We really didn't need it from him, we received plenty from our mom.
It just wasn't him and we all understood he loved us.
He never helped me with my homework. He never tossed a ball to me. I never playfully
climbed on his back. He never picked me up from football practice or drove me to
school college. He never told me "Good Job!". He and my mom gave me $20 for food,
expecting to see me in 4 months when I left for college. Still funny...That $20 was
totally spent by day 3. I think my best friend's parents gave him $100. We still laugh
about that.
No discussion, no worry. If my dad would have displayed any of those emotions
towards me, it would have been some questions from me. Similar to; "What did I
do?"..."What kinda trick is this?" "Is dad losin' it?"
My smile from that Granddad-Granddaughter episode reminded me of the same
frozen grin I displayed when my son was born 3 years earlier.