I stood there in my borrowed hospital scrubs; little paper covers on my tennis shoes, while fidgeting with the blue hair cover trying to keep it out of my eyes. The time had come for my baby girl to make her entrance into the world, and I was there to be a spectator of the birth.
My wife was about to go under the knife for the second time, and this time the doctor had told her I could watch. This wasn’t my choice, I would have preferred the old fashion way of childbirth where the fathers wait in the waiting room, then see their child after they’ve been cleaned up. But my wife wanted me there, so there I was.
They ushered me into the room, showed me where to stand and then began the procedure. Thankfully I was far enough away to not see them slicing through my bride’s skin, and when the doctor raised her stomach and told me what she was doing, the room did spin for a moment. There are just some parts of your wife you never really want to see.
But I made it; watching them as they removed my baby girl, hearing her first cry and starting the journey of having my heart melt time and again because of her.
There is a special bond between a dad and his daughter. I love my other kids too, but there is just something about little girls and what they can do to their daddy’s heart. Through the years of Sponge Bob, friends, sleepovers, tea parties and a host of other things I would have never thought I would have been a part of; my baby girl grew into a beautiful young woman.
Like most girls, she met and fell in love with a young man, and the two of them decided to get married. As we were looking at the venue she wanted to use for her ceremony, it dawned on me how I had completely missed out on something as a dad, and I want to share with those of you who have daughters so you don’t miss out on this too.
As the planning took on shape, it dawned on me I was going to have to come up with a lot of money to make her dream wedding come true. I’ve not always been real good with my money, and I realized as the bills began to come in how I should have started saving for this when she was a little girl.
It would’ve been so easy too. If I would have set aside just $5 a week when she was born, at the end of 18 years I would have had $4,680. For $10 a week the sum grows to $9,360, $15 a week becomes $14,040, $20 a week would’ve given me $18,720 and if I had put aside $25 a week it would have netted me $23,400 in the bank.
The main thing is, if I’d had set aside a little bit each week, my wife and I wouldn’t have had to work the extra hours for the months prior to the wedding to provide this for her. I’m glad we were able to give her the wedding she’d dreamed about, and we never had to tell her she couldn’t have something because of money, but a little preplanning on my part would have been great.
Dads, I know you don’t want to think about your baby girl getting married and moving away, but you do need to start setting aside a little bit each week for when this does happen. When the day comes, it will make her wedding dreams come true when you tell her she can have whatever she wants because you have the money set aside for it.
Now you know what I think, what do you think?
All In A Knight's Work 