Manly?

My friend Dave wrote a blog the other day about glimpsing into the future and attending his daughter's (Keaton) wedding. What dad of a daughter probably hasn't thought of that day when his little girl is in the middle of her happiest day ever? His entry and the comments that resulted from it, which by the way Dave has turned into an RHS reunion of sorts, made this blog possible. A friend of mine named Kelli commented to Dave that he should listen to the song "I Loved Her First" by Heartland. First of all, I concur 110% with her recommendation. Dave's fear? Tearing up in the car hearing that song.

That song came out sometime in late 2006 on their debut album. I heard the song on the radio that fall and fell in love with the song. Libby was probably 6-7 months old or so when I heard it, and immediately I had those father/daughter dance visions in my head. That would be a great song to have played. For Christmas that year, Tricia bought me their CD and it gained heavy rotation. My parents even got into the act and framed a lyrics sheet to that song and gave it to me for my 30th birthday.

Heartland's song came out roughly the same time that Tim McGraw came out with "My Little Girl"...another good song about a similar topic.

Let's fast-forward to this spring. I'm cutting the grass one afternoon and listening to my MP3 player. The song "Drive" by Alan Jackson came on and for some reason, I'm sitting there on my mower, still cutting, wiping away the tears. Seriously. I was crying while cutting the grass. And about an Alan Jackson song? What?!?! Why was I getting all cryey? Same vision of Libby grown up, this time as I've taught her how to drive and how maybe one day she'll share that memory with her children. In that song, he talks about how he taught all his daughters to drive in a worn-out Jeep. That just hit me. It hit me because I have a feeling that we're going to be blessed with girls. Yep, Mike and the girls. Mike teaching his girls to drive...a worn-out Corolla? Nah, but you get the point.

It's natural, I think, to have these random bits of emotion come up every now and again. So Dave, I say to you, download "I Loved Her First", grab a Kleenex, and cry away.
MK