Dada, Daddy, Dad

For awhile now, Waylin has started calling us just “mom” and “dad.” We thought we would have several more years of “mommy” and “daddy”, but for some reasons she will say “Daaaad?” like she’s a teenager begging to go to the movies with her friends! 😂

Just like our mellow Mother’s Day, Father’s Day was much of the same vibe.

I posted a very similar post on Facebook on this day, but changed a couple of sentences from last year. it perfectly conveys how I feel about Father’s Day. I’ll post it again:

I am the girl who didn’t have a loving father. We all know “that girl”, and some of us are still “that girl”. I spent so much time trying to convince my dad that I was worth loving. But, I could never see the happiness in his eyes when he was with me. I spent a whole childhood believing I wasn’t smart enough, beautiful enough, or capable enough to receive his approval.

It took a long time to learn that my father didn’t deserve me. That this role really didn’t belong to him, and I could reassign it to someone else. That I was strong enough and loved myself enough to let go of a relationship that had been hurting me for so long.

I feel free. I have peace.

My heart smiles for Waylin, because she is blessed with a dad that will never make her doubt her importance or her worth. I know in my heart that he will always make her feel that she is deserving of love, approval, and validation. She will be told the truth about how enough she is, because he is genuinely proud of her. I am so thankful for you, Ben. It gives me the greatest comfort knowing she will be loved forever by her dad. She won’t have to call herself “that girl.”

Happy Father’s Day!