16 Letters

16 Letters : Letter #4

FIVE

   I walked up to the front porch of my house and retrieved the mail addressed to me. As I walked back in, I set aside the rest of the mail and picked up the one written in Katie’s handwriting. I tore open the letter and plopped down onto my couch to read it.

 Dear Dylan,

                 Manners are really important. Use your imagination on this one. For the sixteen years I knew you, you’ve been pretty good at that. I’ll always love the both of you.

 Love, Katie

    My hand instinctively ran over the creases at the edges of the letter and across the bumps that the wordings on the paper have created. I could almost imagine Katie when she wrote these letters. Her creativity in handpicking life values to teach our daughter with, never ceased to amaze me.

    In the midst of silence that Friday mornings brought, I couldn’t help but think how Katie was, right at this moment. Haley never gave me a second longer to linger on that thought when she walked down the stairs in her dizzy morning state. “Morning, Dada” Haley ran towards me, arms wide open and ready for a kiss on the top of her head.

    She smelt of fresh peaches from the night before when she took a nice long relaxing bubble bath. “Happy birthday you little munchkin!” I said to her and she responded by flashing me her most adorable, angelic smile that makes every little thing perfect. That smile of hers was a dead winner. Haley could charm her way into anyone’s heart with it and dare I say it’s her number one weapon so she knew what better way than to use it on me right now.

    “I’d like an Oreo Cheesecake for my birthday this year” my four year old tells me. “And where are your manners, young lady?” I ask promptly. “Pleaaase? Please please please please pleaseeeee?” Haley says dramatically, climbing up the couch next to me and jumping up and down in glee. Then, she finally stopped jumping and cheekily added, “And umm. I was thinking a doll too?” her eyes sparkled and her eyelashes fluttered. You should know that I gave in.

                                                                               ***

   That night, I had a candlelit dinner in a fancy restaurant with the only girl in my life. She was all dressed up in a new dress that I had gotten her. A waiter came by and casually asked whether we were ready to order. “Yes please” my daughter replied. I’ve taught her well. After some time, our order of ‘gourmet chicken chop’ and steak arrived. “Where do I put this Dada?” Haley asked me as she waved her napkin around. “On your lap honey” I tell her and she does just that. Haley picked up her fork and starts poking at the bits of chicken I’ve readily sliced for her.

   I watched as Haley put to practice the basic table manners I’ve taught her all that afternoon. It brings me great joy to see my daughter learn her way into life and all its necessities. Every day that she learns to be the Haley I hope to bring her up to be, I know that it’s an accomplishment. No one ever said being a single dad at the age of twenty-two was easy but it was the life that I was given and it’s the life that I’d take any given day.

    “Umm. Dada? I think I dropped my chicken on the floor” Haley says all of a sudden, jolting me away from all my thoughts. Here we go again.