Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Bendigo: Forever a princess By Raul B. Bendigo Under my hat
MR. Garrison Keillor, an American author and humorist says, "The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan."
He is of course exaggerating about how fathers are to their sons - I don't know about you but in my case it's my son who berates me when I drink beer - but I'm sure Mr. Keillor isn't stretching too much about daughters.
You come home and your son says "Hi Dad!" He's sincerely happy to see you because you see that his face brightens and breaks into a genuine smile. If only some politicos remember how they smile when they see their own parents, people might like their smiles better.
Anyway, right after the son has shown his dad his genuine pleasure of seeing him still alive and still coming home, he realizes everything is still okay and then he instantly remembers what he had been doing before the dad arrived. Zap! The son's face instantly frowns in the middle of figuring out how to complete assembling the model airplane.
You, the dad, knows how it is, you being also male (oops, is it being chauvinistic?) and how you don't want to be interrupted when you are "in the zone."
But it's a different story when your daughter sees you under the exact same circumstances: she drops everything she does, runs to you, hugs you and kisses you on the cheek. Only a bottle of beer comes a close second to the feeling!
Then one day you come home and you're floored. You thought you've seen everything? Think again. Your wife shows you a poem your daughter has just made and it goes -
"There are times when I'm down,
And sometimes I'm not around,
But I realize I shouldn't be sad,
I should never be mad,
Because no matter what,
You, my parents, make me glad.
"God himself will observe,
That my parents I don't at all deserve.
I know they deserve a better child,
One more patient, respectful and mild.
But then you love me anyway,
And that's more than anything I can say.
"I love that I can always be true,
And just be myself when I'm with you.
I know I'm safe when you are there
Even the ugliest monsters couldn't scare.
But most of all I love you guys,
And I can see only warmth and joy in your eyes."
I am a pat of butter in a frying pan. My daughter might not become a prime minister, but she is and will always be my princess.
