Yesterday it was Father’s Day in our part of the world. For a child with no father like my daughter, it can be a difficult day. Adults are very good at avoiding unusual situations by just ignoring them!
Every child in my daughter’s school had to prepare a gift for Fathers’ day, even the kid with two mums made one for the other mum… and what did my daughter do? Well she was instructed to make one for her grandfather, (my father) who unfortunately doesn’t even live in the same country as we do, so we couldn’t really celebrate with him.
How should you approach a fatherless Father’s Day? What if your adopted child has a father somewhere out there in the world but you just don’t know where? What if he or she had a father but passed away?
Many adoptive kids don’t have the luxury to know where the bio parents are but we know as a fact that everyone has had a biological mother and father at some point in time. Since we were lucky enough to have some intel on my daughter’s biological parents (at least the names and dates of birth and death), we decided to celebrate Tata Hosea instead of Grandpa since it was not Grandparents day yesterday!
We prayed together, Martha asked him if he was OK up there, if he had friends… and she wanted him to know it was very nice down here and that we had celebrated with pop-corns and movies for his Father’s Day. I thanked him for giving me this biggest gift ever, to spend part of my life with his amazingly sweet and caring daughter.
Good night Daddy I love you, Martha she said …and at that point I replied, I am sure he knows your name, he is your father!
It shouldn’t matter where your Father is and if you know him or not, Father’s Day is the Day to celebrate him, and that is what we will do from now on. Even if another father might come along one day and join her life, there will always be a very special place for Tata Hosea!