My Daddy The Victor

I finally called you daddy because you repeated that word a thousand times while holding me close, our eyes deadlocked.

It’s important for us fathers to coerce their baby into speaking daddy before they speak mommy as the first spoken word; the reasons are self evident..

First of all; it must be said that this is a contest which has a winner and a loser. It’s called the “baby’s first word” contest. The winner will earn said badge of honor followed by: unlimited boasting privilege’s for a lifetime.

Seemingly, mom would have had a distinct advantage; devoting more time to the contest while dads at work. Nevertheless, what my dad lacked in time spent, he made up for in tenacity, so the battle raged on. But, like today I was a stubborn little fellow and had decided to: not speak neither daddy nor mommy as my first word.

Changing Strategy

My dad, seeing that I was not responding to his efforts, decided to change tactics. (And I believe this is where I get my intelligence from) He was intent on claiming some form of victory in the “baby’s first word” category. Consequently, he cleverly began to experiment with visual aids attempting to find something that captivated my attention. He tried many objects, but finally found success after finding an object that I could not only see, but smell.

I was too young to remember how it all went down. Therefore, if not for the boasting thing I mentioned earlier, I probably would not know anything about it at all. And as a result, I have endured this story throughout my life. This story would be instigated by my dad in almost every public setting and then strongly rebuked by my mom as disgusting, childish, and was also cheating on the whole “baby’s first word” competition thing.

Fishing (not phishing)

I guess it’s too late for me to say “I’ll get right to it” and tell you what my first word was. So, I’ll just start by saying my daddy was an avid fisherman; to quote him “the best in the world” and you know what? He absolutely was the best fisherman I ever knew. After finding the right object, he began his strategic plan by bringing in the days catch and seating “little baby me” right up there beside the sink as he cleaned them. My mom said he repeated the word fish over, and over, and over as he showed me the fish and all their wiggly smelly parts until finally I uttered the word “sish”.….The judges ruled and sish was deemed “close enough”, and a new fisherman was born.

One of My Newly Found Fond Memories

This was an especially enjoyable story for me to write about my childhood. It is part of a treasure chest of newly found fond memories, but the best part of this particular memory is how the telling of the story always made my daddy happy. And, it added to his delight when mom feigned anger, which would bring on the giggles as he told it. And now, being born again, I can hear all the laughter, feel the warmness, and love of my parents once more.

They were young parents; my daddy 19 and mom 17. Among many other odd jobs my dad was a milkman and really struggled to make ends meet. Although dad had faults, laziness was never one of them. He grew up in tough times and started a family with nothing but love for my mom, a strong will, and devotion to hard work. I will forever be grateful to my dad because he taught me those values and my very first word “sish”.

I Love You Dad

Albert Coley Stanley and Barbara Jeanne Hall were married in 1951 Memphis. I am the eldest of 4 children.

This is the first time I have ever written a tribute to my dad for Fathers Day. You see, I harbored much anger and hate towards him. I blamed him for many things, some he may have deserved and some were my own concoctions. Hate or anger will eat at you and cloud your mind into only remembering the bad things or what you perceived as bad things directed toward you. My dad struggled, I struggle, we all struggle. All of us are human beings with faults and we don’t do well on our own.

It all changed for me Sept. 30th. 2018. That was the day I dedicated my life to The Lord and was the day I accepted Jesus as my Savior. It was the day all the old anger left my body and was the day I began to remember all the good things. That was the day I replaced hate with love.

Ephesians 6:2 Says: “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise:

If you harbor hate, are angry, lost, or have no direction like I once did, there is an answer. It’s the answer to all the strife and anger in the world right now. The answer is Jesus and he died on the cross for me. He died for you too if you’ll accept him. John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Hating On My Dad