Tonya Fennell
Father’s Day is just around the corner and many Cannon Air Force dads will spend their special day thousands of miles away.
But, even though they’re not with us physically, we can still celebrate the wonderful role they play in our children’s lives.
My husband is a father of two and step-father of two. The oldest three are boys, and my husband has tirelessly shot baskets, thrown thousands of backyard football passes and played endless video games with them.
Really nothing out of the ordinary, but I love him for it anyway.
But, what I love most about my husband is the role he has taken on with our 16-month-old daughter.
He is a hands-on dad who spent eight hours a day in the hospital with me after I had a C-section. He fed, changed and cuddled her so I could rest. I will never forget the look on his face when the nurses handed him his minutes old daughter.
He then took three weeks of leave to care for both of us. Many sleepless nights, tons of spit up and thousands of diapers followed.
But, he never complained.
Now our daughter is walking and talking and her daddy is her favorite playmate.
He isn’t afraid to sing silly songs or blow kisses through the phone when he is working and she just needs to hear his voice.
And even after a 12-hour shift on the flight line, he still has the energy to chase our daughter around the house on his hands and knees.
He gladly accepts bites of food from her chubby hands because she loves to share with daddy.
He taught her to walk by coaxing her to him with open arms and he also taught her to spit (gross, but she loves to copy him.)
And you know it’s true love between the two of them, when she can easily pull his attention away from watching his beloved Cardinals play.
Tonya Fennell is the news coordinator for Cannon Connections. Contact her at 1-800-819-9925 or by e-mail:
tonya_fennell@link.freedom.com
