When I was about 5 years old, I handmade my first valentine for my daddy. The kitchen table was covered in pink construction paper, safety scissors, and an entire bottle of silver glitter glue. I’d just drawn my masterpiece of a Tweetie bird on the front, and proudly scrawled (with help from Mom) “Happy Valentine’s Day Daddy Love Your Sweet -“……when I ran out of room. Uh oh. See, I’d been my Daddy’s “Sweetheart” since I could remember…but dang it I had written my letters too big and had no room to put the ‘heart’. I was heart-broken, but unwilling to throw my masterpiece aside and start again. Then Mama suggested I take the red glitter glue, and substitute a drawn heart shape instead of the actual word. WHAH-LAH! All the world’s problems were solved – I drew my best heart, filled it in with extra glitter, and happily slapped that sucker shut.
(Mom didn’t have the heart to tell me I’d just glued it together permanently. )
I still think of that Valentine’s Day and laugh. The day itself has always been a bit of a wonky holiday in the Clan household; we traditionally have brown paper bags full of homemade construction paper valentines (dad’s are always green and mom’s are always purple for their favorite colors) and breakfast usually includes chocolate & off-brand little debbie swiss rolls. But the significance of the day always peaked at knowing we were all properly loved and important to each other.
My brothers first learned how a man ought to treat a woman from my daddy. He brings my mama coffee every morning in bed. We all joke about how he can’t carry a tune in a bucket – but he sings about how beautiful she is. He’s horrible about pre-planning dates, but he knows exactly what mama likes – the way to her heart isn’t ice cream (like me lol) it’s a bowl of fresh-popped popcorn, or pretzels with extra salt. (Guess what was sitting on her bed waiting for her for Valentine’s Day?) I’ve got three brothers, and all three of them know that flowers are always a good idea, adding chocolate is an even better one, and a sweet note goes a long way towards telling her how much you love her. (One of them added his own personal touch in my valentine today by signing it ‘love, Batman’.)
As a girl, I grew up knowing how important it was to find a man that would love me like my daddy did – not an easy order, cause I’m a daddy’s girl, and we go way back. He taught me how to give butterfly kisses – to this day I still give him one every night before bed. (If I’m gonna be gone overnight he swears he can’t do without and I have to give him an extra 😉 ) We decided a long time ago that we’d dance to Butterfly Kisses at my wedding someday.
Daddy pinned on my first corsage, and was my first dance partner – I hiked up a floor length silver ball gown, climbed in, and we drove to a ball in his pickup truck. Had a smashing time.
Daddy always told me I was beautiful. I remember the first time I really felt like a woman instead of a little girl – I was 15, and doing a 4-H project where I had to shop for an outfit on a budget and then wear the outfit to a style event. I’d chosen a long blue velvet dress, my first pair of heels & had curled my hair – setting it off with my mom’s wedding necklace. I came tripping down the hallway to show him and he took one look and told me to go back in my room and change cause I didn’t look like his little girl anymore. But I knew he was proud of me.
I’m ever grateful that I have a dad who’s present in my life and I’d like to encourage all the dad’s out there who are doing the same for their daughters. We notice. We care. We need you. It matters more than you know. To all the daddy’s who have sons, even if they’re little – thank you for taking them to pick out flowers for their mama, thank you for helping them write a card, pick out pretzels, and showing them over and over how to treat a woman with love and care and respect. Thank you for teaching them how to be tender, to listen, to pick up on the little things. Little boys grow up quick to be big men. His girlfriend – his wife – will thank you someday.
Daddy loves me. He taught me what it looked and felt like to be loved, treasured, valued. He was my first sweetheart, I wouldn’t be the same without him, and I’ll never ever forget it.
Thank you Daddy. Happy Valentine’s Day (Love, your Sweet ❤ )
Wide Awake 