Always call him daddy

I know it may seem random, but today I'm writing about dads, especially mine. Due to recent events, my dad, who passed away just over three years ago is on my mind more than usual.

When you search for the word dad in the dictionary, it will send you to look at the word father and you find the following: "a male parent; a man who exercises paternal care over other persons." If you attempt to search for the word daddy, you won't find anything. It will tell you the word is slang. But daddy is more than slang. 

From the time I was little until he passed away when I was 25, my father was always "daddy." He will always be daddy. If he lived until I was 80, I would call him daddy. A father is someone who is part of making a child; someone who shares DNA. A daddy is someone who takes you to a small town carnival where the rides break down, rides you around town in the back of his pick-up truck and holds you up in the ocean when the waves are too big.

The dictionary can't define the word "daddy" because it's an emotional word. It is defined by the actions of a man with his children. Jerry St.John was the definition of a daddy.

Me (age 4) & my daddy

A girl's relationship with her daddy changes as she becomes a woman, but to my daddy I was always that little blond haired girl. I truly believe when he looked at me, that's who he saw. I'll never forget the last time he hugged me. He was very weak and I told him to lift his arms and put them around me. He did. I can picture that moment like it was yesterday and it breaks my heart. But more than that, I can remember being silly with him, swimming in the ocean together, singing oldies in the car, and watching Lifetime movies (seriously). My daddy wasn't perfect and I'll be the first to admit it, but why remember him any other way? 

Vacation 2009

Do you know a man who defines the word "daddy"? Cherish him, tell him you love him and always call him daddy.