The Best Father's Day Present: A Memory Book
“Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too.”
– John Meyer lyrics from the song, “Daughters.”
At the risk of being sappy, I’ll just say it – my husband is the man. The girls run to greet him the moment they hear his keys turn in the door and he lights up when the girls shout excitedly, “Daddy’s home,” and throw their arms around him.
Every night!
It warms my heart to see their joie de vivre and love for their daddy.
We aim to show him that he is Number 1 on Father’s Day. It’s the day to let the compliments and appreciative gestures roll in daddy’s direction.
Not that he is forgotten throughout the year. Veronica writes love notes all the time – to him, to me, to her sister, to her cousins, to her grandparents. The list goes on and on.
A self-proclaimed artiste, she expresses her love through cards and letters.
A couple weeks ago, she started writing him Father’s Day cards – with mermaids, our house, and flowers. One card really caught my eye. I asked her if she could do another copy. She did, and I framed it as a present for him.
She also started plotting a to-do activity list for Father’s Day. Topping the list was breakfast in bed, a family bike ride on the Lakeshore path followed by cheeseburgers and milkshakes from M Burger, and a BBQ with daddy’s favorite grilled foods.
Breakfast in bed:
Biking on the Lakeshore path:
Stephen and Veronica are the dots in blue to the right of the yellow line.
I also decided this was the year to start a memory book where the girls answer questions about their dad. Annually. Veronica is 6 and Stella, 3, so this seemed like a good time to start the project.
I’m a fan of both traditions and marking growth. This book is an attempt to freeze-frame time to mark how the girls are developing from year to year … and how the father/daughter relationship is changing.
Time truly moves slowly, but passes quickIy.
My plan is to stick with the following questions – to really see the change in answers, yet I’m sure some new ones will arise and we’ll roll with those.
- What makes dad happy?
- How does dad make you laugh?
- How are you and dad the same?
- If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
- What is your dad’s favorite food?
- What is dad’s favorite thing to do with you?
On the backside of the words, I added a scrapbooking page for each girl. Stella got Mickey Mouse and Veronica chose abstract shapes. On top of each of the prints, I added a couple pictures of the girls (individually) with their daddy.
Stella, age 3
Veronica, age 6
As you see, I wrote the first three for Veronica. She is intrigued by cursive, so I whipped out my pen and gave it a go. I write in a hybrid of print and cursive, so my traditional cursive looks like about fourth grade.
I can’t wait to see how this project evolves. Imagine what it will look like when Veronica is 18 and Stella is 15. I’m tearing up already. Geez.
Ciao.
Rudey
One Response to “The Best Father's Day Present: A Memory Book”
I love the idea of creating traditions to mark time + create memories. This is a great idea…one I might co-opt next year!