The Love of a Daddy to His Daughter

The summer I turned 19 was the summer that I met the man I would marry. Rob was in the USAF and stationed in Virginia. We met in my hometown in Wisconsin. He was on leave with his roommate (who just happened to be my neighbor growing up). I flew to Virginia and 6 months later we were married. Rob re-enlisted and was transferred to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. We moved to Arizona in May and our daughter was born in October, 1982. I was 20 then and Rob was 26. Our marriage was wonderful.. Rob worked while I stayed at home and took care of our baby..He loved her so very much..He couldn't wait to come home from work so he could hold her and talk to her..

On Christmas Day, Rob wasn't feeling well..He actually hadn't been feeling very well for a few months..Nothing to warrant a hospital stay or anything..He kept working but it seemed he was getting worse.. I wanted to take him to the hospital but he asked me to wait until after we opened our Christmas gifts..Once the gifts were opened I took him to the hospital. They said he had the flu and sent him home.

He told me that if anything happened to him I should find someone else to marry so our daughter would have another daddy to love her..I told him not to worry about that because nothing was going to happen to him.

Two days after Christmas he was very ill and I had to take him back to the hospital. On the way to the hospital he was talking to our 2 month old daughter and this is what he said, "I can't be the daddy that I've always wanted to be to you. I love you very much and I'm sorry."

Rob died that night. Before he passed away he reached out to me and said "Bye."

There I was, just 20 years old, a new mother with a 2 month old baby, and I was a widow. How could this happen? We were only married 9 months. I believe Rob knew he was going to die and he was preparing me for it, but I didn't realize that until he was gone.

Rob wanted a baby girl more than anything in this world and when she was born he was the happiest person ever. He spent 4 hours picking out baby announcements to send out to family and friends. The one he found read, "The baby girl we've been dreaming of." Now that was a perfect card.

She has his almond shaped eyes and a little tiny speck on her lip just like her daddy. When I look at her I see Rob and that is a wonderful thing. I just wish he could have been here to watch her grow up but that wasn't meant to be.

And the wish he wanted for me to find her another daddy came true..

I fell in love again and found our daughter a new daddy, not to replace her special daddy, but someone to love her and take care of her just like he wanted.

He would be so proud of her now..she is a mother and has two beautiful boys to call her own..