Happy Father’s Day

It is Father’s Day today in Austria and to all the fathers out there I wish you a very happy day!

I can’t help thinking about my own father. In Portugal Father’s Day is on March 19 but it has been a while since I celebrated it. You see my father died when I was only 17 and I feel I still needed him. I wish he had been there to advise me in so many things, to comfort me and to give me away at the altar.

What I have left are memories. The long walks we used to take on the beach, our talks, his sense of humor and his appreciation of nature and plants that he passed on to me.

When you are very young, you never think of your parents dying. You always think you have time to ask the right questions, to show you care, to know more of your family history. And then one day you realize time plays the cruelest tricks on you and it is far too late.

Fortunately for my 5 years old daughter, it is still too soon to think about all this. I’m very happy to say she has a very good father who loves her unconditionally since the day she was born.

When she was born and we held her for the first time, I did not know yet what sort of a father my husband would be. And although he was not a hands on father regarding diapers, he was there for her since the beginning.

 In the first few weeks when we took her home, he would wake up with me so that he could see her feed. That made me feel we were a family. I will always be grateful for those special moments in the early hours in the morning when we would look at her in awe on how we had managed to create such a beautiful and special baby.

Since then he has guided her in many ways, comforted her and taught her so much. She loves it how every evening they sit and read together. She is very proud when he tells her how happy he is with her progress. And when she is afraid or tired, Daddy’s arms are just the right medicine.

I’m hoping they will always be this close and that one day when she is ready, she will ask her questions and she will get to know her Daddy even better.

As for my father, if he is watching, I hope he is proud of what I accomplished and I hope he approves of my choices. He always dreamt of travelling and exploring more this world we live in. He never got to do it, I did and I am still doing it. And I do it also for you father!