I first posted this 7 years ago. I now want to re-post this and make it a little more accurate and up to date. Yesterday was the proudest moment I have ever felt in my life as a father. There was a lot of speculation as to whether or not I would cry, and to a lot of shock and amazement, I didnt. I plan on making up for it tonight as I re-write this. A Letter to my Daughter on Her Graduation June 1, 2014 My dear daughter Skye, Im writing you this letter because you seem so busy these days; I hardly get a chance to see you anymore. Yesterday morning before I woke you up, I watched you sleep like I used to when you were little. I dont know how you got so big. It seems like just yesterday when your bedroom was filled with teddy bears, mobiles and the smell of diapers. Now it’s posters and perfume. How many long nights did I walk around your bedroom, bouncing and rocking you in my arms, pleading with you to please go to sleep, my beautiful baby, please close your eyes. When you were three, you used to love to get a piggy back ride up to the bedroom, and you would laugh and squeal, and mom would get annoyed. She’d say , “Don’t get her all worked at bedtime, she’ll never sleep.” I would sit on the edge of your bed and rub your tummy and say, “Go to sleep, my little princess.” And you would tuck my hand under your arm and cling to me as your eyes closed, to make sure I did not leave you alone in the dark. Time passed and your favourite toys changed. I don’t remember the day you stopped taking baths with your Barbies and Bratz. But you still liked to cuddle. And then we would get Ryley and Delainey and have a BIG cuddle in mom and dads bed. I would pretend to have no bones and you couldnt go bed until the three of you had me standing up. Then I would sing you Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And we always ended with me saying that I loved you to the moon and back. And you always said, I love you to the moon and back too. Today your friends and your music are what are most important to you. But you still like the closet door closed when you sleep. And yesterday, hanging from that door, a purple graduation dress. When I first saw you wearing it yesterday, glowing with all the life and hope and dreams of a beautiful young woman, I was truly speechless. I wanted to tell you how beautiful and how smart and grown up you are, and how proud I am of you, but I just couldn’t speak, I just smiled, walked outside so no one could see, and blinked away my tears. One of my biggest regrets is that I was always in such a hurry to get through your childhood. I cant believe that Id sometimes skip pages to get to the end of the your bedtime story, and I scolded you just for acting like a child. Yesterday morning, as I stood over your bed, looking over you, lying there in the innocence of sleep, I could still recognize my little baby. The ear infections and the long waits at the hospital; the video games; your first cell phone; the night I stayed with you at the Stollery. My darling daughter, I dont know why I ever uttered the words “grow up.” I was always in such a hurry to get you to go to sleep. Yesterday, as I stood there watching you sleep, I wished you would have woken up, and I wished you would have held my hand and asked for one more piggy back ride, and asked me a thousand questions. Happy graduation my beautiful girl.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 02:33:17 +0000
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