Last weekend, I had a chance to visit my grand kids. My little angel — my grandson Nik is fond of all super heroes and he keeps on telling me that he wants to fight the bad guys and save the world.
“So Nik, tell me who is your favorite Super hero these days?” I asked him curiously.
Raising his eyebrows for a moment, Nik answered, “I kind of like Spiderman too, but you know — Superman is the most powerful and the best of all!”
I looked at his glistening eyes and it reminded me a lot of my son that age, when he used to be crazy about superman.
“Hey Superman….” I could not resist calling out my grandson a Superman.
“I am not a Superman. I am a Super Boy.” He waited for me to confirm that I agree with him. Then he added, “My daddy is a Super Daddy!”
Wow, that was a great compliment coming from a little kid. Especially with Father’s Day around the corner, it seemed like a priceless gift for my son. Sure enough, my son must be spending his energy to have some quality time with his kids. I have seen my son doing everything for his little babies from feeding, changing diapers, bathing to storytelling and playing, taking care, since their birth. My son deserves that title to be a Super Daddy.
When I look back, I wonder what a great job my husband also did being a daddy! He composed his own songs for our baby. Not only he gave his own tunes to those songs, but he used to sing those with his funny expressions. That made our baby so happy that he will giggle endlessly with each word.
During our recent visit, when my granddaughter Laila asked me to sing, I was confused. But then I tried to sing my husband’s songs and that made her so happy.
My husband also created some magical stories which you will never find in any book. Not only we all, but our neighbors and relatives used to be a part of those wonderful stories. Sometimes people’s pets made a VIP appearance in his stories too. I remember our neighbors had a puppy dog named “Dilly” and that was the prime character of many stories. Our son enjoyed those stories so much, that he often used to ask me, “Mommy, can you tell me Daddy’s stories please?” I could never dare to repeat those “original” stories with the same enthusiasm filled with boundless love.
As years passed, slowly the stories and songs faded into memories. But not the Father’s Love!
It was not my husband’s style to express his love all the time. But when my son graduated, my husband presented him with a personal gift wrapped into a beautiful gift paper. I had no idea what the gift was.
When my son opened his present, we found it to be a CD from George Straight.
Wondering about the CD, my son started playing it. And the first song started playing …..
“Let me tell you a secret about a Father’s Love…
Daddies don’t love their children every now and then
It’s Love Without End, amen…”
That instantly took us back to memory lane. With tears running down my cheeks, I proudly looked at my husband. What a thoughtful gift he came up with! I saw my son giving his dad a nice hug saying, “I love you Dad!”
Life goes on and our roles alter, priorities change. But some precious moments like this leave their imprint forever.
On this Father’s Day — I wish, my own dad could come to meet me right now and I could tell him how much I loved him. My dad passed away ten years ago. As a little girl, I first thought of him as a very strict and disciplined person. He was a perfectionist and always expected me to have high goals. I worked hard to live to his expectations. But honestly, I sometimes got frustrated to keep up with those high goals. Now as a parent, also being a teacher, I know the value.
As a teenager, I did not realize how much my dad loved me until I got very sick one day and was admitted to hospital. I still remember him being by my bedside holding my hands. This was the first time ever I saw him being so emotional.
Our journey since then was a friendship and that continued till the end. My dad was a devoted social worker and apart from his regular job he loved helping the community. Inspired by him, I started following his footsteps a little bit. Then I got married and started my own family. He kept on reminding me about keeping high goals in life. I was his girl and now there was no way I would give up.
On my dad’s 75th birthday, I wrote him a long letter. I shared with him so many things but mainly — what I am today was mainly because of him! If he would not have taught me values of life, I will not be the same person. I was thinking about getting him a birthday gift. I could not decide what I should get for him. But I knew that he has given me a valuable gift in life. What if I get him a similar gift? I told him that my gift for him is my Love. He read my letter, shared it with his friends and then one day he called me and said, “Your words SPEAK! Keep on writing.”
But I did not consider my dad’s suggestion seriously. I did not even think of writing anything until he passed away. I wrote my first article within a week after my father’s death. As if he was asking me to fulfil his wishes. My article was filled with my dad’s work and passion. It was all about him and how he guided me with this journey. I am sure he would have been proud to know that I followed his advice although a little late, but I was still keeping my goals high!
He was really my Super Dad! But I never ever told him that. Why didn’t I tell him? I wish I could still go there to see him now and tell him.
But, at least my grandson is making my dream come true by calling his own dad a Super Daddy. That is awesome!
Happy Father’s Day to all Fathers and Grandfathers too!
Twitter: @sandykulkarnee
Originally published at medium.com