While I was waiting near the folding chairs for over twenty minutes for my father to arrive, the father-daughter dance had already begun and everyone was dancing. Even the school’s janitor, Mr. Wheeler, took the stage together with his niece, feeling like the happiest man on Earth.
And just as I thought he won’t be coming, I heard the door creak.
Wearing jeans, his vest, and his usual hat, my dad’s eyes met mine and I could see a feeling of regret.
“You are late,” I said.
He gave me the rose he had bought for me and said, “I had to stop by somewhere first.”
“Where?” I asked, and it took a couple of seconds before my father answered, “I just wanted to make sure she won’t stop us from having this night.”
I knew right away that he was talking about mom.
They divorced some years ago and things hadn’t been smooth for neither of us ever since.
“I told her I wasn’t going to miss another father-daughter dance,” my dad said.
We had the most amazing time that night. I even forgot that he wasn’t there on time because I knew he was doing his best to be as present as possible.
When he was about to drop me home, my father turned to me and said, “Honey, there is something you need to know. When I stopped by at mom’s place before I arrived at the dance party, she told me she was moving to St. Louis, and she’s taking you with her. But I won’t allow that. Not if you don’t want to go there yourself.”
I froze. Moving places wasn’t something I wanted at the time. All my friends were here, my school, the teachers I got to love.
“But don’t think about that now. We’ll see how things will turn out,” my dad said as he stopped by our favorite pizza place on the way home.
In the days to come, things turned heated.
My mom requested a sole custody of me, and my father fought that at court.
Eventually, they determined I was old enough to make my own judgement and decide who to stay with. When I talked to a guardian ad litem, I explained that my father wasn’t always there, but when he was, he was fully committed. And mom, she meant well, but she sometimes failed to listen.
Going to St. Louis seemed like e huge thing at the time, and I decided to stay with my father.
Mom was sad and disappointed, but she eventually came to terms with my decision. She did move, but she visited on the weekends.
Today I’m in college and living on my own. My relationship with both my parents is a healthy one. The most important of all is that I know they are there for me.
And as of my dad, ever since that father-daughter dance, he never failed to show up.
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Bored Daddy
Love and Peace
