Daddy’s Girls

By adminmph | March 2, 2011 |

My girlfriend, Busy, and I were just on a girls getaway trip. After being gone all weekend, I was excited to see my daughters. I missed them very much, and I was under the impression that they felt the same way (well, maybe not the little one, she’s nineteen months old and doesn’t know what day it is—but the older one is almost four and she for sure knew I was gone).

When I finally got home, weary from traveling and looking for love, Lovey (the little one) was napping but Sweet Pea was up. I couldn’t wait until we saw each other. My vision of our long-awaited reunion was about to be realized.

I walked in the door, put my bags down, and called for her. As she slowly came around the corner, her little fist holding something, (something she made for me, I’m sure) I was all excited for my hug and my mystery treat…but what I got was a loaded hand in my face accompanied by: “Mommy, can I have this gum?”

Gum? I didn’t just walk out of my freakin’ bedroom. I HAVE BEEN GONE ALL WEEKEND! No. There will be no gum for you.

Their daddy will run out for twenty mintues–but when he walks in, the girls go so crazy you would think they just jumped out from behind the lyrics of a Kenny Chesney song. “Dah-dee! Dah-dee! Dah-deeeeeeeeeee!”

Yes. I get it. He is very cool and I’m excited to see him too, but what about me? Why are you guys never as excited to see me? I AM AWESOME.

True, I’m with them more so naturally, they don’t find me as exciting, and no, I don’t turn myself into a human jungle gym like Captain Goodtimes over there, but I’m somewhere—somewhere being awesome. I prefer not to go out in twenty degree weather and build a snowman with them, but who was inside making hot chocolate WITH marshmallows? You got it: Mamacita Awesima.

The practical, mature part of me wants my girls to be all about their daddy. He is an amazing daddy and he, for all intents and purposes, should be the one they look to for many things. He is supposed to be their hero. But, as someone who thinks a poster board priced at .69 is funny, I am often immature, so that part leads me to be a little envious of the fanfare he receives.

Kids go back and forth; parental partiality is part of a natural cycle. It’s perfectly normal to temporarily prefer one parent over the other. That being said, I also think that it’s normal to be hurt when you’re not the parent they prefer (especially if you’re awesome).

There will come a day when one of my girls will get hurt: Some guy will blindside her, break up with her and smash her heart, or a friend might say something that hurts her feelings. That kind of thing happens in life. And when it happens to one of my girls, I hope she calls her mommy.