A daddy who wants to dance .

Today after church and lunch , my daughter and me made a quick trip to Big Lots for a little fun of make-up shopping . Great , cheap prices on make-up and other girl stuff . We happened to see an old friend from church . As we made the small talk in the check-out aisle , a big boulder of truth came falling down . Her phone rang three times as we waited . It was her husband calling about problems at home with their children . She remarked to me that it was difficult for her to take time away from home because her husband did not do well with their children . Then she told me about a time when we were all attending a wedding and my husband asked our daughter to dance . I think she would have beeen about 4 or 5 at the time . Anyway , our friend explained how blessed my daughter was to have a dad who liked to dance . She went on to say how she longed , as a little girl , for her daddy to spend time with her and now her husband has such difficulty with watching their children . As my daughter stood there smiling , she ever so slighty remembered the dance and the wedding , but you could see the beam in her face with the telling of the story . My daughter knows our family has problems , but she would have never believed that this perfect looking couple had issues . I became so touched as I remembered our younger years of me working at Baptist hospital for 12 hour shifts and my husband having to take care of our children on the weekends . He really could not call me with problems . He had to make it on his own . On Sunday's , after church , he would bring everyone to take me to lunch at Captains D's on West End Avenue . Our son was a toddler and our daughter would be in the carseat . They would be clean , dressed in Sunday best , white socks and shoes , hair slick and smelling like Johnston's baby lotion . Now , 16 years later I realized what I had . And what I have . Whatever has washed across our pathway of life will never completely remove the imprints of a daddy who was there , available , willing to try , made mistakes , and many times failed .....but , wasn't afraid to step out on the dance floor and ask his sweet child for a dance . Obviously , I never dreamed what an impression such a simple deed could and would mean to one who has never experienced whirling and twirling in the arms of her father . A dance within one's heart .