Fatherly Thoughts: Going Down from Gold to Silver

One of my fervent wishes after I got married is to have a daughter. I have no problem having a son but having a daughter is like having a little princess at home.

After having a son as our first born, the Lord granted my wish and gave me my daughter "Samantha". She is both sweet and maldita. She likes Hello Kitty and unicorns but can play rough with her kuya. Unfortunately, she's getting some of my bad habits and it's like dealing with a smaller version of myself - a mini-me of sorts.

In any case, Samantha is my one and only princess - from infancy even to her adulthood.

I am having this fatherly thoughts after I watched this scene in an episode of the anime Kakushigoto that struck the emotional chord in my heart:

Goto: By the way, what's this gold medal for?

Daughter: It means you're a gold medalist in my eyes.

Goto (thinking): ...but when she grows up and falls in love, I'll become a silver medalist.

T_T

Well, I guess it is true. No matter how much a daughter loves her father there might come a time when another man will be the priority.

The Bible is clear about this. Genesis 2:24 says:

For this reason, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife; and the two shall be as one flesh.

Well, that passage is not only about the man but also about the woman who leaves her family, the household of her father, then becomes one with her husband.

This is a painful possibility for all the doting fathers out there. Even if our daughters stayed single her whole life, there will come a time that they have to live on their own (either voluntarily or involuntarily when the time of our death comes). Our work as a father is to prepare them for that future even if there's that possibility that we will be the silver medalist in their eyes.

Whatever happens, even when that possibility comes, Samantha will stay as the gold medalist in my eyes.

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