Sometimes it still blows my mind that ten years ago someone would have chosen me to be father to her children! And that ten years later she would pass from this world without any reservations about that choice.
Don’t get me wrong: I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love her my our girls with all my heart and soul. They are my world. I’ve done my best to be the best dad that I can possibly be, and always will. But still… to step back and think that someone would essentially give me her children is mind blowing.
Naturally, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. I loved the girls even before I met them, from pictures Ryma showed me, and stories she told me. I already loved them when she brought them through the International Arrivals gate at Dulles for the first time! Of course, I was no stranger to Ryma ten years ago, and certainly not one now. By the time Ryma departed this life–after a decade as a family–I was unquestioningly the girls’ daddy. I still am.
Nevertheless, when I step back and reflect, it still amazes me.
So, on Father’s Day, I thank Ryma for having the faith and confidence in me–then and now–to trust me with the two most precious and important people in her life. They are the two most precious and important people in my life too.
That now ten-year-old Jeep is showing its age, and the AC died a couple days ago, so we “compromised” and replaced it with the one pictured above. It’s got an automatic transmission, and also a hard top (something we had always planned to add to the old Jeep).