One Video Dads with Daughters Should NOT Watch

I came across a commercial yesterday via a Tweet from @playgrounddad (thanks!).  I went into it looking forward to seeing what it was all about.  Have you ever seen the movie Marley and Me?  I went into that movie with the same expectations.  I was thinking it was a comedy based on what I saw in the commercials.  You know, the ones where the dog was walking beside the car and Owen Wilson was holding the back legs…ha ha, right?  WRONG.  Did I mention I brought my daughter to that movie as a Daddy/Daughter thing?  Wow, what a big mistake.  That movie is a terrible tear jerker…and they drag it out for probably about an hour!

Well, that’s pretty much how this commercial goes.  Halfway through, or maybe sooner, my Adam’s apple felt like it was about to jump out of my throat.  I was choked up and on the verge of tears.  I had to breathe deep, walk around, and think about Hines Ward catching a pass across the middle.

Check it out and see how you do….don’t lie either

Now, this video may also impact dads with sons, but I don’t know anything about that.  I’ve been around girls so long, when my daughter asked me to buy a boy’s birthday present a few years back, I wandered aimlessly through the toy section trying to figure out what to buy.  There may be a similar bond, but I just feel dads with daughters have something a little different.  I think our protective nature comes into play and we feel like we no longer have control when they are away from us.

Watching the video reminds me of how soon my oldest will be leaving me.  She’s halfway through her Sophomore year in high school.  Middle school and high school seem to be flying.  The video makes me think of all the good times we have EVERY day.  When she makes the move to college, these daily interactions won’t happen.  I’ll need to let her go out and be a woman, but as a father, it breaks you up.  I live every day just to see my daughters, to talk to them about how their day was, to fix them dinner, to take them to practice, to help with their homework, etc.  Last night my youngest needed help making a pizza box for a school project.  You didn’t have to ask me twice.  I was down on the floor hacking cardboard boxes and using advanced engineering techniques to construct a full fledged pizza box.  This morning as my oldest was packing up for school we got into a quick smack match where both of us wanted to have the last ‘hit’.  It went back and forth and the laughter grew with each strategic hit.  These are the kind of things that you’ll miss when they are off on their own.  The simple, youthful play that you grow accustomed to over the years.  It’s going to be a rough day when I drop her off at college.  I may have to stay in the car.

Oh, and I let her have the last hit.