I got the Daddy prize!

Yesterday I was about to head off to work in the morning as usual. In a bit of a hurry to catch the next train I was pulling my bike out of the shed when I hear a knocking on the glass back door. I look up and my daughter is trying to get my attention by waving that I need to come back with a worried look on her face (she is 2 and 1/2 years old).

I hurry back to the door, unlock it and ask her in a bit of a hurried voice, “What’s the matter?” She says, “Daddy, you forgot this.” and holds up something. She wants me to take one of her favorite toys, a small Duplo kid sleeping in a bed. She wants me to have this today… me?

When I take it from her, she gives me a kiss on the cheek, smiles as only a small child can and says, “Bye bye Daddy!” before running back into the living room.

I am stunned. If you have every read some of the books by Robert Fulghum, you might remember a short story about the ‘Daddy prize.’ It is hard to describe this totally unexpected moment in words, but I felt like the most special person on the planet. Just because this little girl trusted me with her favorite things.

I put them in my bag, safely I might add, to avoid any possibility of losing them during my ride to and from work. I also ensured that I returned them that night when I got home from work. Again that earned me a big smile as she said, “Thank you, Daddy!”

It’s good to be the king! ;-)