I remember my promise.

Today was movie day.

After working like a dog, sometimes sixteen hours a day on a movie set for the last six days, my daughter is off for the weekend.  And if she is home on the weekend, that can only mean one thing.

Today was movie day. 

(I know, you would think somebody who just got a break from a grueling film shoot might want to take a break from all things"movie" for awhile but you SO don't know my daughter.)

As I sat next to her in the darkened theater, and listened to the comforting sound of her laughter, I remembered my promise.

She was not even one full day old when I made it.  I believe it was the most important promise I ever made, and I am somebody who ALWAYS takes promises seriously.

That day as I held that precious bundle of joy in my arms, I just started rambling.

I told her all kinds of stuff.  I told her that I was not a perfect person.  I told her that I had made a lot of mistakes.  I told her that I was scared that I would not know how to be the father that she deserved.

And after I was finished telling her how unworthy I was to be her father, I made a promise. 

I promised that, despite my flaws, I would be the very best dad I possibly could. 

I promised that when she fell down I would be there to pick her up.

I promised that when she was cold, I would hold her until she was warm.

I promised that if she got lost, I would never stop searching until she was found.

And I promised that whenever she reached out her hand, it would always find mine to hold.

I probably wasn't a very good husband, and sometimes I have not even been a very good man, but I have always been the best father that I could possibly be. Not perfect mind you, but then who among us can make that claim?  But I HAVE kept my promise.





Father's Day card handmade by my daughter in 1998.  She was nine.



As I sat in the darkened theater listening to the sound of her laughter, I realized that of all the promises that I have made in my life, the one I made twenty three years ago was without a doubt the most important one. It had been the one promise that I absolutely had to keep.

And so I did.

And what I received in return was the best possible reward that any father could ever hope to have. A happy, healthy adult, who STILL wants to spend time with her old man while sharing the gift of laughter.

Best promise I ever made.