Daddy's Little Girl

My dad never tired of telling me what his first words were when he and my mom discovered they were pregnant.....again! "I should have slammed it in the window sill!" he exclaimed. My mom attempted to comfort him, "Honey, maybe we'll have a little girl," to which he responded, "We can't make girls!"

So, my mom prayed for a brown-eyed baby girl with curly hair like her daddy's. (Well done, Mom!) And so it was that I came to be, in lieu of a very ugly, VERY painful window sill massacre!

I was Daddy's little girl. My mom said I sang before I could talk. From toddler years to high school, I sang for my parents and their families and friends near and far. I played the accordion, and at my dad's request, played Alley Cat so many times I could recall it from memory after 40 years of accordion abstinence!

When Daddy's girl fell from grace at the age of 17, his heart was broken. Not only had I crossed the clearly defined racial boundaries that forbade dating outside of our race, but I became pregnant. I will never forget the cold winds of change as I became invisible to him. There were no requests for music, and our teasing banter came to an abrupt halt. His eyes rarely met mine, and when they did, the sadness I saw there was unbearable for me. He could not understand how I could have brought so much shame upon the family, and I could not understand why there was any shame at all. We came to an impasse that only time would mend.....my Daddy and me.