With Father’s Day coming up on Sunday, I am reminded of the moment my husband became a father. Elle was 2 ½ years old and Colby and I had been dating for a couple of months. We were dating long distance, so the first weekend he came to visit me, he got to meet Elle for the first time.
He flew in on a late Friday night flight, and despite the time, Elle was standing next to me at the arrival gate waiting for him to deplane. Elle and I both held a rose in our hands, mine was red, and hers was pink. I remember my heart feeling like it was going to pound out of my chest. I was so excited to see Colby, but I was also nervous for him to meet Elle.
Elle and I were a packaged deal, and if something went wrong with their meeting, I knew our relationship wouldn’t make it.
I shouldn’t have been worried. As soon as I pointed Colby out to Elle, she boldly walked right up to him, handed him her rose, and gave him a hug. That is the very second Colby became a father.
After marrying a couple of years later, Colby and I adopted Bunny as soon as we could get our paperwork together. When we were given the green light to travel to Guatemala, I remember the look on Colby’s face the first time Bunny was placed in his arms. He had already become a father with Elle, but he had missed out on all the little baby stuff. As he held a very tiny Bunny in his big, strong hands, I saw him walking her down the aisle one day.
Colby is a great father and he enjoys every aspect of fatherhood. Well, almost every aspect. He helps the girls with their homework, and he spends countless hours in the pool as a large swimming toy. He sneaks them treats before dinner, and he is setting the standard for the men they will some day marry. He is a man that became a father as he walked off a jet way, and he has never looked back.
So, here is to Colby, and all the other adoptive fathers out there. You are amazing men, and our world wouldn’t be the same without you.
Photo Credit. LanitaM
