daddy

received word yesterday that daddy will be having bypass surgery this next week. they will do one artery that is 95% blockage, then a day or two later they will do the other 4 arteries. his doctors are wonderful and give him high odds for success.
they told my sister genny to try to keep him down and resting. obviously this new doctor does not know daddy! however in our conversation tonight he is tired and he knows that the doctors are true in their word. the doctor explained that while one of his brothers had bypass surgery several years ago, uncle jimmy's death might had been prevented if he had seen a cardiologist.
it was hard to hear my daddy say that he was worried and scared. i have never seen my daddy sick. i didn't get to meet my daddy until i was 16 years old. he and my momma were not married when i was conceived. i was given up for adoption and raised in a town 85 miles away. growing up i had a need to connect. i always looked for them because i had a few names that my adopted parents kept for me since the adoption. i started a serious search when i was 16. it only lasted 2 days! not only did i find my mom but she told me that she and my dad married about a year after i was born.
when meeting the family, genny and daddy were the first ones i got to meet. of course no one is what you expect them to be, especially when you are a kid and have dreamed of your parents all your life. daddy is a simple man, he had been a truck driver turned county employee that owned cattle and rental houses.
the first thing i noticed was his tired face and the fact i got my eyes from him. that day i learned where my characteristics came from and so much more. over the years i have learned his values and principals, without him raising me or guiding me. he has earned a deep respect from me. this man loves his family, loved my mother until the day she died, his children, her children and all the grandchildren. he loves me and even told me the story of when he and momma went together to the welfare agency after they married and asked if i had been adopted or if they could get me back. this man, after meeting me never once tried to parent me. if i asked for advice, i got it. if i asked for respect, i got it. if i asked for love, i got it.
daddy came into my life after my adopted dad james passed away. although one daddy was never meant to replace the other i feel god had intended for me to always  have a person in my life to call daddy.
i know daddy's surgery is left in gods hands and i know that he will take care of him. i have reason to believe that i have time ahead to make many more memories with daddy.