It is a common belief that girl’s are more close to their father.
I really can’t comment on that, as I have seen mostly the other way round where girls are more close to their mothers. But in my case I was always my papa’s daughter. My attachment with him was more than my mother. There could be one more reason for that, my mother’s job was very hectic, she would leave early and come back late.
Whereas my father would take me to school, he will be there at the gate when my school got over. He will come back home early from his office (as he had a flexible job). Anything I would ask he will get for me. My mother was strict she would beat me often, but my father will rarely lift his hand. Therefore, it was natural for me to be attached to him more. See, a kid’s brain is not mentally developed to understand why a mother is away for so long and a father is compromising his job for the sake of their child.
My father is a very emotional person. He would cry if he would see me bleeding or getting hurt. I remember as a kid, on a Sunday my mother would cook Rajma in a huge utensil so that we can have it all day long (a Punjabi can understand what I mean). I would eat that rajma as breakfast, as my lunch and dinner, and middle of the night I would vomit but I will never wake my mom up, It would be my father who would clean everything and sit with me, give me medicine and keep checking me throughout.
Whenever, he will travel outstation; I would keep missing him writing his name on the road with a chalk. I loved him the most. He would take all my tantrums and will still love me (he even now does the same). He is a super protective dad.
One thing I never liked about him was he would walk very fast. We would go for shopping together and he would keep walking without looking at us behind. His steps were fast and long, I could never match. To catch him up, I would have to run. With my tiny small steps, I will have to put a lot of effort to match his pace.
I remember often, me and my mother would stop at a shop check for clothes and he was nowhere to be seen, then we will run to look for him (mobile was not there at that time). Like this we could never shop at peace. I will keep telling him and get angry why you walk so fast, you don’t care if we are left behind. I was so scared someday; I will not be able to find him.
Time passed, I grew up and started working. My working hours were long and life became very busy. During this time my dad had fallen sick majorly, he went through two major surgeries brain and cancer surgery along with many other small surgeries. His body became weak, neck bent, no control on his moment and he started taking baby steps. He often started falling on the floor.
There was a lot of weakness in his body post surgeries and with heavy dose of medication he would keep forgetting things. Gradually he became better and started doing his routine tasks. The thing which broke me the most was his walk, he would walk very slowly, and he would take 5 times more time to reach any place as compared to when he was young.
Every single time I would see him walking, it will give a pain in my heart and I would remember how I use to get angry with him. At this point of time, I want him to live a life like before, as today I can catch up with him; walk shoulder to shoulder, shop for hours and hours without him getting tired.
But it’s not possible today; aging takes a lot of toll on the health of our parents. No one wants to see their parents old but it’s a universal fact. We can’t go against nature. As a child we see our parents as immortal but when we see them growing old and suffering, it hits us hard. They suddenly didn’t grow old but over time it happened, but we never realized because we were busy taking them for granted. There is a saying:
“Love your parents. We are busy growing up; we often forget they are also growing old”.
We love our parents the most, but when was the last time we told them “I love you”. If we have aging parents we are still blessed to have them with us. Spend time with them, take them out, and make them do things which they have never done before or would have wanted to do always. Take them out for shopping (yes they do love shopping) and be with them as much you can.
My dad’s walk has realized me a lot of thing……… I really wished he could have walked like before. When he was walking fast I could never catch him because of his pace and now when he is walking too slow I am still not able to catch with him. But one thing is sure…… he has always walked ahead of me and have done things which no one on earth can every do for me.
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