Daddy’s Girl

On Valentine’s Day and every day I remember his influence, his spirit and his well, just manner of being.  I can remember being tossed into the air, giggling all the way back into his arms,  dancing on the tops of what I thought were his enormous feet, at the age of 5.  Learning to ride a bike, his holding the seat and running behind me.  The pride on his face at my honor society induction,  thespian awards,  and graduation. And later,  his utter disappointment when I chose not to listen to his “sage” if not overbearing advice.  I can still feel his arm entwined with mine in the back of the church, his whisper in my ear (you don’t have to do this you know) and “our” dance at the reception.

I have the happiest memory of my Daddy,  running in and out of the  labor and delivery room at the hospital when my oldest was born.  Louis knew almost every nurse, assitant, and worker in the hospital and he wanted to be sure that they all knew that his “little” girl was in that hospital and he was gonna be a Granddaddy! The rest of the story is history.

February 14, 2002.  My Daddy, Louis, went to be with Jesus. (yes I’m 50 somethin and I still refer to him as my Daddy, its a Southern Thing) I’ve always been a Daddy’s girl and I always will be.   I often “talk” to Daddy, asking advice, cursing my mistakes and begging for intervention.  I’m quirky that way. In some strange way, I think he’s still listening.

Every kid deserves to have a Daddy like I did. Had it not been for Catholic Charities, I wouldn’t have had him. I am a child of adoption.

Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s was a child of adoption too. In 1990, President George Bush asked Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, to be the spokesperson for a new adoption initiative, “Adoption Works…For Everyone.” Dave, an adoptee and adoption advocate, enthusiastically accepted the challenge and began to speak out publicly to encourage people to consider foster care adoption. He appeared in a national public service campaign and encouraged other business leaders to offer adoption benefits as part of their employee benefit plans.

But, he wanted to do more. He established the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in 1992. The Foundation formalized Dave and Wendy’s commitment to finding permanent homes for foster care children and provided a national voice for the 150,000 children in North America’s child welfare system waiting for a forever family.

The world lost a great advocate for children when Dave Thomas passed away on January 8, 2002 ; a short month before I lost my own Daddy.

For the past three years, Wendy’s has made it a Father’s Day Frosty Weekend tradition to donate 50 cents from the sale of each Frosty to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

This year, instead of another mundane father’s day gift, Involve the kids in this great cause by having them create a fun Father’s Day eCard on FrostyCard.com. For every card they send, Wendy’s will donate an additional 25 cents to the Dave Thomas Foundation. Kids can attach coupons for “taking out the trash” or “washing the car” onto the cards for Dad.  And on Sunday, June 21,  Father’s Day treat dad to a Frosty at Wendy’s and $.50 for every Frosty sold will be donated to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA).

Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddies out there and to my Daddy, I love you. Like a fat kid loves cake  and miss you always.

P.S. You can find more great Father’s Day gift ideas and great Mom advice at Mom Central.  Stacy and her team have put together some awesome give aways for the summer too! Check it out!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Domestic Adoption in Struggling Economy (adoption.suite101.com)
• Foster Care (idealist.org)

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