father's day

Zuzu and I were blessed to honor Ty on Sunday – his first Father’s Day. Especially being the first Father’s Day, we considered this to be kind of a big deal since he’ll only celebrate the first one once. The preceding week, we sing-songedly reminded him daily that his special day was around the corner and as soon as midnight Sunday rolled around I started saying “Happy Father’s Day!”. In the morning, Zuzu greeted her daddy with a card that she “made” (at Margarita’s house) which was propped in the corner of her crib for Ty to discover.

After church, Ty came home to find 21 little notes hidden throughout the house describing why we love him as a father – things like “You are always willing to change diapers in the middle of the night” or “You read books to Zuzu in utero”. After he found the first few he began to get the idea there were more hidden throughout the house so he started hunting around, opening drawers, peeking in the fridge, etc. to find them. They were everywhere from inside a clean diaper, underneath Zuzu in her crib, on the underside of the toilet seat, on top of the forks in the silverware drawer, folded inside clean underwear – you get the idea. Later he opened cards and I know he loved all his Father’s Day cards because they each made him teary. Sometime this week Zuzu and Ty will make a stepping stone with Zuzu’s tiny handprint and Ty’s big handprint in cement to commemorate his first Father’s Day (it was way too hot and humid to do it on the actual day).

Perhaps the most touching part of Father’s Day was late on Sunday night, when Ty turned to me in the kitchen and reflected on a moment with Zuzu he’d never forget – special time that just the two of them shared, quietly and tearfully, just an hour after Zuzu was born when they were all alone together. We love you, Ty -- you are a gift to us!