Jackson Free Press

On my fifth anniversary I took my amazing wife, Natalie, out to dinner. During the meal she was just so animated that I remember thinking: "I need to have date nights more often. I had forgotten just how much fun this amazing woman is to be around."

As we finished our dessert, she gave me a card. On the cover, Pooh and Piglet walked hand-in-hand, or paw-in-trotter, into a sunset. "Some of my very favorite things are small things," Pooh said to Piglet.

I opened it to read, "Daddy, yes we are pregnant!"

There was much more, but I don't remember it. The word Daddy hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. Although I guess even a ton of feathers would hurt landing on you. Here in The South (yes, it is capitalized), we are Daddies. You can be a pop, a dad, even a father in other places, but in Mississippi we say Daddy. I was now that—a daddy.

Other daddies told me that as soon as she was born, I would feel my life change. But between the shock of absolute unpreparedness and the daily upkeep and maintenance of a newborn, I admit that it took a few weeks. Holding my daughter one morning for a 2 a.m. feeding, I finally had time to process it. Tears poured down my cheeks as I promised her in absolute terms that I would do anything I needed to for her.

I began wrapping myself around her little finger long before she knew it. Do the sun and moon rise and set in her eyes? Why, yes, they do. Will I adore that awful tie she will undoubtedly buy me one day? With all my heart. 

Most of us have no idea what to get for our daddies for Father's Day. Dads usually buy whatever they want or need when they want or need it, so we children struggle and fret and worry. But take it from me, a Daddy, whatever you get us will hit like a ton of feathers, and we will love it. Is it perfect? Of course it is; it came from you. Even the card bought last minute will be perfect. We already have everything in you, our children.

The rest is just icing on the cake. 

Mitchell Moore owns Campbell's Bakery in Fondren.