I think Melissa and I both were pretty lucky that Charlotte was born so close to mother’s and father’s day. It’s pretty special the first time someone refers to you as daddy or poppa, but it’s extraordinarily special when the server at the restaurant says happy father’s day. I’ve said it dozens of times to other people, but today was the first time I’ve ever had it said to me.
My first father’s day started out like usual...getting up to feed Charlotte at some point in the middle of the night. But when I woke up after that, Melissa had made my favorite breakfast casserole and we started off the day with sausage, hash-browns, cheese and gravy all mixed up into one. It’s the best breakfast casserole I’ve ever had and the funny thing is that it is the recipe on the back of a 75 cent gravy packet. I was scheduled to play drums at church this morning, so I had to leave the house around 7, but before I left Melissa gave me a gift from her. They are silver cuff links, with a great quote from Abraham Lincoln and Melissa told me that I’m supposed to wear them on Charlotte’s wedding day, which if the card she gave me didn’t already have me a little misty, the comment about Charlotte’s wedding day definitely did. It was a very thoughtful gift and I like it because it’s almost like a time capsule that I don’t get to open or use for quite some time, so in the meantime I pray that Charlotte finds a good man some day and that when the time comes I would have shown her what it looks like to be a good husband and father.
Charlotte did a great job on mother’s day. She cooperated when I put her in her “I love mommy” onesie at 6:00am. She slept all the way through church and even slept through our mother’s day lunch. So when “parent of child 1H2G” came up on the screen at church and all of the parents scrambled to see if their child was connected to that number, wouldn’t you know it, the nursery volunteers had requested that “parent of 1H2G (Charlotte)” come over to the nursery. Now, we’ve been leaving Charlotte in the nursery for about a month now and every time we pick her up we’re just sure that they’re lying when they say, “she didn’t make a peep.” Needless to say we’ve had good luck so far. So since I still had one more song to play at the end of the service Melissa went to go check on child 1H2G and said she’d text me with details. It turned out that Charlotte was just tired from not getting a nap before church and after the nursery volunteers tried feeding her and rocking her, they called in the experts for reinforcement. Melissa was able to get Charlotte to sleep and so we decided for plan a, which meant we were going to lunch instead of dinner.
After Melissa asking me all week I finally landed on PF Chang’s. I’m pretty indecisive when it comes to restaurants. So we made the drive there, got inside and were sat at a table in the back corner, which was perfect for our sleeping girl. At lunch I received my gift from Charlotte and I’ll post a picture, but when you see me you’ll have to ask to see it in person. It’s a key chain that Melissa found on etsy. One side has the words, “dad, encourager, comforter & teacher.” The other side has an imprint of Melissa’s thumbprint and Charlotte’s thumbprint. It’s the best gift I’ve ever received.
Charlotte slept pretty much all the way through lunch and after a few ounces from the bottle, she passed out again. We decided to walk around the outdoor mall, that PF Chang’s is connected to and spent an hour or so just window shopping and using the Gap dressing room as a changing station. It started to rain and it was a little hot so we decided to head home.
Melissa really did a great job to make my first father’s day one that I’ll remember forever. I plan to have that keychain forever and even though I’m sure it’ll be a mixed day of emotions, I can’t wait until the day that I put those cuff links on. So happy father’s day. I’m thankful for a great family that’s healthy and happy. Charlotte is teaching me so much about God these days. I know my love for her is just a fraction of God’s love for us, but every day I’m learning a little bit more about that that really means.
-jay