“Me, daddy!” Julia shouts.
“Me, me, me,” Jasmine tries.
“Don’t forget me, daddy!” little Josephine adds.
“Trick answer. It’s all of you!”
And all my girls cheer together, riding closer to their mom, my true little girl, and giving her a high five.
“I love you guys,” I say to our entire family, with my mother-in-law and Mason already riding up ahead a bit.
“We love you, Daddy,” they all reply.
“Daddy,” I say quietly. It means so much from the ones I love, and can be interpreted in many different ways. But to me, it means the same to all of them.
Love. Because that’s what family is. Love. Commitment. Togetherness. Always.
Family first, second, third, and every position thereafter because at the end of it all that’s all that matters. I learned that a dozen years ago, taught to me by my little girl.
The wisdom of children, right? They’re the ones who really know the meaning of life, and that’s exactly what they mean to me. Everything.
My family. My love. My everything.
Just how Daddy likes it.
THE END