Daddies and Slippery Socks

There's just something about a daddy.

If mom is sustained, lasting light, dad is a spark. It's certainly ntrue in my family, where the men simply produce a different kind of nenergy. Dads and Grandpas are wonderfully familiar but, at the same time, nexotic.

Some of my most vivid memories from childhood took place during weekend ncar rides, just me and my Dad. They are engraved in my memory not because nwe did anything particularly exciting or adventurous - these were mostly njust weekly errands, with the occasional stop at a donut shop. And it nwasn't the conversation; we didn't talk a whole lot. There was just something ndifferent about being with him.

It's that way in the family I've created, too. For my daughters, Cassie and Calliope, Daddy is an exclamation point at the end of each day.

I'm sure two-year-old Cassie doesn't know how to tell time, but at precisely 6:30 every weeknight, she's got her nose pressed against the glass, waiting nfor daddy's truck to rumble up the driveway.

Calliope, almost three months old, coos and grins at me all day, but nwhe
Dad comes home, her muscles start to work. She starts making little njabs with her arms and legs. Her mouth forms an o-shape. She's a picture nof pure concentration.

When my daughter and I were living with my parents awaiting Calliope's birth,
Grandpa would announce his arrival each evening with two quick honks.
"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Cassie would run to the door so fast that her socks nwould send her sliding across the linoleum.

The wide-eyed way Cassie looks at the men in her life just melts my heart.
I can only imagine what it does to them. Like most toddlers, her whole face nhas a feeling, not just her mouth.

I wonder how things would change - with our husbands, our fathers, our nmothers, our children, our friends - if we all greeted one another like nthis. If we carried this intensity into all of our relationships. If we nran so fast we slid to greet the important people in our lives.

A recent Oprah episode had Toni Morrison asking, "Do your eyes light up nwhen your children come into the room?" Because that's what they are looking nfor, she said.

I find myself reflecting on that wisdom frequently. Because isn't that what nwe're all looking for?

Today, see if you can make sure someone finds it.