Daddy, Fix It

My husband's father passed away yesterday morning at the age of 87. He was a man who could fix anything.

"Fix it, Daddy," she lisps at two, showing the god in her life her scraped knee.

"Fix it, Daddy," she says at four, tearfully producing her broken balloon purchased from the vendor at the parade.

"Fix it, Daddy, " she says at six, struggling with her jacket zipper on her rush out the door to school.

"Fix it, Daddy," she says at eight, confidently wheeling her dented and lop-sided bike toward him as he gets out of hiw car after work.

"Fix it, Daddy," she intones righteously at ten after coming out a loser in a knock-down drag-out battle with her stupid, tyrannical, and absolutely impossible brother.

"Fix it, Daddy," she pleads at twelve in the first of many struggles with her mother over whether she is old enough to wear eye shadow.

"Fix it, Daddy," she sobs at fourteen, when her image hits rock bottom because she didn't make the cheerleading squad.

"Fix it, Daddy," she asks at sixteen, exposing her first broken heart over a lost love.

"Fix it, Dad," she says at eighteen when the college she wants doesn't want her.

"Fix it, Dad," she implores at twenty-two, sending along her mangled checkbook stubs and a 1040 form.

"Fix it, Dad," she begs at twenty-four, when she witnesses a rare conflict between him and her mother.

"Fix it, Dad," she writes at twenty-six, explaining that she wants a quiet wedding officiated by a priest and a rabbi.

"Fix it, Dad," she prays at thirty, when her baby is in the hospital and her husband is overseas.

"Fix it, Grandpa," she insists at 40 when she turns her contrary twelve year old over to him for the weekend.

"Fix it, Dad," she begs at forty-five when he tells her his heart is faltering and needs repair.

"Fix it Father," she prays at fifty-five as she kneels at her dad's funeral, praying that he will find peace and realizing that from now on he will be fixing things for her in a way he never could before. -Delores Curren

Thank you Pat for all you have done!