Home cooked dinners, rock music, old movies, labor. My childhood was filled with laughter and loudness, love and unlady-like things. I was my daddy’s little princess, his favorite out of the three. Though he never had a boy, I was the second man of the house, slicing the vegetables right beside my father as we prepared dinner for the family every night. The smell of all the herbs and spices blending together always wafted around the house right before supper-time. A smile would shine on my face when he told me how delicious the meal tastes, not knowing it was because I was ecstatic just to be working with him - side by side. 

My dad made sure of it that his girl’s grew up with his great taste in music. I can still hear the song “Everybody wants to be famous and naked” play in my ears as I remember the times we would scream our lungs to it with the speakers blasted. A giggle would always arouse out of me, never being able to take the word naked seriously. I can still remember the bass of the speakers in our garage blaring “Jump” by Van Halen at 7:30 in the morning as my mom stood furiously in the door frame screaming at my father and I. I could never stop giggling when I was with my dad. 

I can still envision the beautiful black dress the woman wore in the old movie “Legend”, produced in 1985. I can still hear David Bowe’s voice singing from the movie, “Labrynth”, created in 1986. We sat in the pitch black basement staring wide eyed at the screen in front of us. The musty dark room always scared me years ago, so I sat cuddled in my dad’s lap, engrowthed in the films he brought into my world. Labrynth is still my favorite movie to this day. 

2:30pm everyday did I wait for my dad to come pick me up from daycare. I would stand in front of the door praying he could come faster, and as soon as I saw his blue truck halt into the driveway, I was out the door quicker than you could say stop! I can still remember the smell of the white crackers and chew in his car. His gear from work was always piled up in the backseat after finally getting off after a big day of hard labor. But no matter how tired he really was, he always picked me up from daycare with a smile on his face, and I would run into his arms with a smile on mine too. 

I hung onto my father like glue, learning his ways through my childhood. He has given me so much knowledge about life, and has taught me how to survive on my own. Never would I ever ask for a different dad, and never would I wish to grow up differently. I had the best childhood anyone could ever ask for… and the coolest dad too.