Daddy

Baby me and Daddy

     When I was a little girl my dad and I hung out a lot.  My mom worked a morning shift and he worked a night shift.  Daddy was the one that got me ready for school in the morning and made my breakfast. At the breakfast table, he sat at the head of the table and I sat to his immediate right.  Breakfast always consisted of eggs, some sort of meat like bacon or sausage, toast, juice and hot chocolate.  He would read the newspaper and I would chatter non-stop.  Then he would rest down his newspaper, look at me and say,

     "Kendy, do you want to play a game?"  I was three years old.  I always wanted to play a game.  I would nod my head eagerly.  "Ok,  let's see how long you can be quiet.  I'll give you five cents for every minute you can be quiet.  Then you can buy candy when you go to your grandmother's house."  I didn't know what a minute was, but I knew what candy was.  I wanted to play this game.  

     Daddy pointed at the clock on the kitchen wall and explained to me that every time the little red hand moves that's a second and when it gets to the 12 that's a minute. I nodded my head and excitedly waited for the game to start.  

    "Ready! Set! Go!"  The game started.  Daddy picked his newspaper back up, and I stared at the clock with my finger on my lip (that was usually the position the teacher had me in at school because I was always talking in class and there was supposed to be absolutely no talking in class).  Well, I got confused about the red hand, the little hand, the big hand and I didn't know how the number twelve looked.  We'd only gotten to the number ten in school.  After about thirty seconds I said,

   "Daddy, you know what happened in school yesterday?"  My dad patiently put down his newspaper again, let out an exasperated sigh and said,

    "No, what happened in school yesterday?"  

    My dad took me to all my doctors appointments.  He would lift me over those grates in the sidewalk because I was afraid to walk on them.  He taught me to tie my shoelaces.  He taught me how to fish, make my bed and ride my bicycle. 

     Then there were the things I learnt from him by watching him.  Like loyalty.  My dad has been at the same company for over forty years.  Then there's responsibility.   He always took care of us.  There has never been a time when I've asked Daddy for something and he's not given it to me.  Then there's the one that's had the most influence on my life and that's leadership.  

My sister, Daddy, me and my brother.

     One time my sister, brother, Daddy and I were walking into a video rental store.  A man started to have a seizure on the sidewalk.  A crowd stood and watched, but no one did anything.  My dad asked if anyone had anything to put in the man's mouth so he wouldn't bite off his tongue.  No one had anything.  He ran back to the car and came back with something.  He went over to the man and placed it in his mouth.  I'm not sure what he did after that, but after a while the man stopped convulsing.  Then Daddy drove the car up to the side walk.  He lifted the man off the ground and laid him on the backseat of the car.  He asked the people in the store to watch us while he took the man to the hospital.  He told us we could rent whatever movies we wanted.  Then off to the hospital he went.  

    At the time, I didn't realize how major that incident was, but it is one that has had a big influence on my character today.  It cemented in my subconscious he notion that I can never be a bystander.  I can never be a person who stands by and watches when leadership and direction is needed.  I have become that person, even in my family, that takes charge. 

Daddy and grown up me

     I can go on and on about Daddy.  How he was raised in one of the poorest areas in Nassau, and that he worked his way through life.  He put all four of us through college.  He took us on family vacation every year, and it's a family tradition that we look forward to even as adults.  

     On this father's day I want to share with the world how happy I am to have been reared by Kenneth Ward, a man of integrity, patience, loyalty, love, kindness, faith and leadership.  Happy Father's Day, Daddy!