Father and Daughter

Today, during my morning walk, I saw a father driving his teenage daughter to college. She sat upright holding the back of the motorcycle for support. In the rear view mirror, she adjusted her hair and checked her red lipstick. She would have been prettier without them, but then teenagers don’t really think like me anymore. Her eyes said she was ready to face her friends. They said she was planning to skip a few classes to catch up with the latest college news. She looked cool, confident and ready for her day.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but notice the expressions on her fathers face. Even though it was just early in the morning, he looked tired. I could sense the weight he was carrying on his shoulders. Yet, the corner of his lips were slightly curled up in pride of the weight he was carrying on his bike. While the daughter was lost in her own dreams, the father was completely focused on her presence behind him. He drove with extreme care and control lest something might happen to his most precious gift.

The brief two seconds scene summarized the relationship of a father and daughter for me. A daughter is the most prized possession a father holds even though he knows he has to let her go soon enough.  He faces most of these emotions every day:

Pride on seeing her grow

Love in seeing her smile

Compassion when she is hurt

Fear that someone will hurt her

Anger when someone actually does

Protectiveness to keep her safe

No word for the emotion in letting her go, knowing very well she will be hurt out there

While mothers get most of the credit for bringing up the children, a fathers relationship with his daughter comprises of so many layers of emotions, and honestly, quite difficult to describe in a 200 word blog. But I am glad that this beautiful relationship can be experienced in millions of 2 second scenes all around us. Cheers to a billion and more fathers out there!