Daddy Knows Everything

Twelve in12

Reading
Queen’s Play ~ Dorothy Dunnett
Pride and Prejudice ~ Jane Austen
Sentimental Education ~ Gustave Flaubert
Finished
Mirror, Mirror ~ Gregory Macguire
Witchling ~ Yasmine Galenorn
Changeling ~ Yasmine Galenorn
Something Wicked ~ Catherine Mulvany
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ J.K. Rowling
Myst: Book of Atrus ~ Rand Miller, Robyn Miller and David Wingrove
The Game of Kings ~ Dorothy Dunnett

Something struck me today while watching 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. The father was apologizing for yet something else he had screwed up in his teenage daughter’s life. “I’m Sorry.” And I realized my father has never apologized to me. For anything. He’s always right and I’m always wrong. He’s infallible and I’m imperfect. He’s omniscient and I’m idiotic. I’m not saying I blame him for my life or how I turned out. But he’s never lost that aura of Father, second only to God. “Daddy knows everything.” That was a constant in my home growing up. How did he know I was playing in the sandbox that afternoon? “Daddy knows everything.” How did he know that book was under my pillow. “Daddy knows everything.” How did he know I saw a movie with Krissy? “Daddy knows everything.” It never failed. Now I’ve learned over the years he’s not magical, he’s just extremely observant. And he has spies. But that doesn’t change the fact that he knows everything. He’s never wrong and he never makes a mistake.

In that show, 8 Simple Rules, the dad is often messing up and making mistakes. But instead of pulling a “I meant to do that,” he apologizes to his kids and lets them know that he’s human. That all he wants is for them to be happy and healthy. At the end of the day, that’s what they remember. Is that their dad just wants them to be happy. At the end of my day, I remember that “Daddy knows everything,” and I have to remind myself that he loves me. Shouldn’t that be the other way around?