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No Bears in This Camp
A Father Creates a Lasting Memory By JoAnne Bennett
Standing in my doorway was a nearly-divorced dad waiting to pick up his two youngest daughters from my daycare.
"Guess what we are going to do this weekend, girls?" he asked in an unusually chipper voice.
Barely looking up from what they were doing, his 10-year-old continued to zip up her coat; the kindergartner concentrated on making one more bunny ear to tie her shoe. A broken family had taken its toll on his daughters' innocent, carefree spirits.
Trying to get their attention, he said, "We are going camping!"
Jumping up and down with excitement, both girls quickly ran over to him. The older daughter begged, as she grabbed her father's jacket, "Where, Daddy, where?"
How could this be an enjoyable father-daughter outing, I wondered. It was late November and evening temperatures were dipping down into the 30s. I pictured this outdoorsy dad driving a few miles to a campsite, where the ground was covered with fresh layers of newly fallen snow. I felt a chill just thinking about his trusting, damp children wrapped up in extra blankets, teeth chattering, roasting hotdogs on sticks around a roaring campfire. What did I know about bonding experiences with dads anyway? I was just the daycare provider.
I, too, had experienced the divorce of my parents during my early life, and later had to endure a painful rejection from my mother's new husband. Even as an adult, I have often silently wished for one more chance to experience a once-in-a-lifetime, childhood dream. It would be the most perfect outing a father-daughter dance where I could be my daddy's little princess for a night. For me, daddies have always led to disappointment and regrets.
However, I sensed there was something different about the father of these two young girls. The outing he had planned for the weekend was priceless, more real than Santa. His daughters' eyes got bigger as he said they were going to pitch the family's four-man dome tent in their front room.
