Father's Day Thought

As Father's Day approaches tomorrow, I am humbled by one overpowering thought: I never want to see my daughter die.

Just the other day, Jenn, my wife, was coming home with Mia from day-care, and there was an ambulance outside one of our neighbors' driveway. Their daughter had to be taken to the hospital. She had somehow stopped breathing. Thank God she is OK. Apparently, she didn't even have to stay overnight.

We have been blessed so far. There have been no frantic visits to the hospital. Some minor doctor's visits. Colds. Fevers. A rash on her face. Nothing more. Mia is a healthy baby.

I want to be celebrating many dozens of Father's Days. And I want Mia to be a part of them. I can't wait for her to express herself on these days, as a young girl, then as a teen-ager, then as a young woman. I'm desperate to know that this will happen, but of course I can't know the future. Days like tomorrow remind me of how precious life is.

So I hope she stays alive. So that I can teach her how to throw, how to ice skate. So I can hear her say "I love you". So I can give her lots of money. So I can take her out on special occasions. So I can send her e-mail. So I can be her father.

I hope she stays alive. A simple thought. A thought that is taken for granted, to be sure, but it's my one thought on Father's Day.