“You’re Sixteen, You’re Beautiful, and You’re Mine” –song by Ringo Starr

Okay dads, I’m now part of an exclusive club: my daughter is turning 16 tomorrow…heavy sigh.  But, to make the best of my growing despair, I put on a suit and tie and took my daughter out for candle-light dinner at a swank restaurant in the exclusive “Shops at Briargate”.  I also gave her a “purity” diamond ring—wrapped in a beautiful jewelry box with a bow—and asked that she remain chaste until the “man of her dreams” puts a wedding ring in its place; so, until then, her heart belongs to daddy!

Turns out, we had a wonderful evening—despite my anxiety—as we talked about… well, anything her little heart desired.  Mostly, I sat gazing at her captivating smile and marveled at how all grown up she appeared to be.  I was praying (to myself, of course), for just the “right” guy who, one day, would sit where I am sitting and similarly gaze into her beautiful face and nervously pop “the question”. 

Please God, bring a gentle soul; a true man of God, to love my baby until “death do them part”. 

I was smiling as she joked, but secretly I was fighting back the tears.  I don’t want her to grow up…  I want her to stay young and live at the end of our hallway on the second floor forever. 

Oh, sweetheart, daddy loves you so much!  So much, that I’m going to let you take flight, when the time is right.  For now, I’m just going to bask in your engaging presence and thank God, through Jesus Christ, that such a daughter was given to me.  This gratitude will have to suffice and ultimately sanctify my most common hours contemplating the day when you will eventually leave hearth and home and be joined to your husband—that the two of you can become one flesh. 

May he love you even half as much as I love your mother.

~ by revdrmichael on February 19, 2010.