CMP Review 2023-08-10

August 10, 2023

Only moments after my daughter was born, I held her in my arms. It was the first of our many steps together on her journey from dependence to independence. I watched her learn to stand and to walk, and to grow from being a baby to being a girl.

I taught her to read so her mind could flourish. I taught her math, from counting to calculus, so she could reason and reflect. Together we read the Bible and I listened to her narrations; I typed them, I recorded them, I remembered them. As she narrated she developed her own thoughts and perspective. Her mind became independent.

I sat by her side as she began to drive, until the day she could drive anywhere she wanted, with only a small card in her pocket to say she had the right. After I taught her everything I could, we had a ceremony in our front yard and she was released from daddy’s school. It was time for her to go to college and to learn the things that I did not know.

And then on Saturday, I stood by her side and she was dressed like a queen. I could hear the violin from the sanctuary as the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and flower girls slowly processed in. I turned to her crowned visage and said that it was time for me to hand her over to another man. I prayed with her quietly, and then it was our turn to process down the aisle.

It was a moving moment, a magical moment, a majestic moment. But each step down the aisle was just another step on a path I had begun so many years before. From dependence to independence. I was her guide on a journey from baby to girl to woman. I gave her everything I had so I could give her away. It’s not a loss. It’s the high calling of being a dad.

@artmiddlekauff

📷: @k.o._scop