Just Like Her Daddy

This morning had the potential to be like any other Monday morning only it wasn’t.  Early this morning our daughter made her way to our room as she does every morning; climbed into bed and requested some morning snuggles before we began our day.  Later I took her to school where we said our goodbyes and I eagerly made my way to the school office.  As I stood there I pulled out an envelope and proceeded to explain that it had finally arrived, the birth certificate was here!

A little over a year ago my daughter returned to school and told her teacher that she needed to change her name because she and her mommy had married her daddy.  We ended up having to explain to her that although in her heart and his heart she was her daddy’s it would be a little while longer before we could change her name.  She nodded that she understood, and she did, but still demanded that at home she be referred to as Little Briscoe.  She had finally gotten what she dreamed of having – her daddy and she wanted to enjoy all the perks that came with having one including sharing his name.

Then came second grade.  Once again she began the school year asking to go by her new last name.  She had practiced spelling it and writing it so she was more than ready and just days before she had sat in a Court room and told the judge that Chris was her daddy, that she loved him and that she gave her daddy kisses.  She watched as her daddy and I signed the papers and listened attentively as the judge stated her new last name.  She smiled from ear to ear as we walked out of the Court room accompanied by her grandmothers (Chris’ mother and my mother) both so happy to be sharing the joy that came forth out of that very special day.  But again she had to wait.  We needed paperwork.  So for now her name had to remain.  Nevertheless, every chance she got she informed everyone that she was a Briscoe “B-r-i-s-c-o-e”.

{Father Daughter Dance.  I danced with my daddy.  She danced with hers.}

 This weekend it came – the paperwork we needed.  It was her new birth certificate.  When I showed it to her she read it aloud and smiled.  She also noted that she wouldn’t be the first in class anymore she’d be second but that it was ok.

As I walked back to my car from the school office carrying the birth certificate in my hand I couldn’t help but smile.  I smiled because although a piece of paper, for us and for our family it represented so much.  It represented the fact that God has blessed the two of us with someone who loved us so much that he made a promise to us and to God to be our forever and always.  And he didn’t stop there.  For our little one although it was everything she wanted; simply saying that Chris was her daddy wasn’t enough.  She wanted to share his name.  To her that meant that she really was his and he really was hers.  And for me it meant that if anything ever happened to me she would remain in the care of the man she grew to love with all of her little heart, the man who reciprocates that love day after day, the man who opened his heart so that he might receive life’s sweetest purest love – the love of a child.

I smile because my daughter has a daddy and if you knew my story, if you knew where I came from, where we came from you would smile too.  I smile because her dream was to have a daddy.  I’ll never forget when she began asking if Chris was going to be her daddy and when she on her own began calling him Daddy Chris until ultimately deciding upon daddy.   I remember her face when he came to her preschool classroom for the very first time.  After months of watching her friends daddies come to visit the classroom and coming home sad because her own father had never come, Chris had decided to come – her daddy had finally come.

I smile because she loves zerburts – her daddy’s zerburts, because he makes her laugh uncontrollably, because he listens to her stories, helps her with her homework, dances with her, volunteers at her school, taught her how to ride a bike, holds her in his arms when she is in need of a hug and still manages to find the time to do so much more.  He doesn’t just tell her that she’s pretty or that he loves her.  He tells her that she is strong, that she is capable and shows her that he loves her.  I smile because my daughter has been blessed to experience a love that I believe will lay the foundation for the kind of love she will seek in her adult relationships.  I smile because when I see them together it is obvious that they were meant to be. I smile because I know whatever challenge we are faced with we will get through it as a family.  I smile because I know he will be there for every milestone, for every tear, for every moment of triumph.  I smile because I see the way he looks at her causing me to have no doubt in my mind that he won’t love her with anything less than all of his heart.  I smile because I know that one day when my daughter meets the second man of her dreams the man that she will marry and is ready to walk down the aisle into his arms, her daddy will be there walking beside her giving her away while forever keeping her in his heart.

 {walking down back down the aisle}

My daughter has a daddy and because of that not only do I smile but my heart smiles.  This year as the school year comes to a close she will excitedly bring me her yearbook just as she has always done and we will turn the pages looking for her photo.  I can already picture the smile that will be on her face and mine and her daddy’s when we look beside her photo and see that beside her first name is her last – Briscoe, “B-r-i-s-c-o-e”.  Just like her daddy’s.

I’m linking up with Just Be Enough today and sharing what makes me smile :)