My Girl

I decided I might as well GO FOR three in a row...

It hardly seems possible that a little more than 26 years have passed since the cold winter midnight Brenda woke me up to inform me that she was going into labor. Since we had been through a couple of rounds of Braxton Hicks, I told her to wake me up when her contractions got closer. I know... I wasn't real sensitive, but if this was another false alarm, I still had to leave for work at 4:30 am and needed all of the sleep I could get. She was quite patient with my insensitivity and at about 3:30 0r 4:00 she woke me to inform me that this was indeed the real deal. I scurried around, got dressed, and called my boss (my Father In-law who lived just acrossed the street) to inform him that I wouldn't be going to work because Brenda was in LABOR. And then to my dispair, I couldn't find my car keys which, if you know me, you know I always know where my keys are. After searching rather frantically for several minutes, I located them... they were in the car!

We headed for the Shawnee Regional Medical Center... more than likely at a high rate of fuel consumption (over the speed limit). After signing in somewhere around 6:00 am, Brenda was assigned a room in which she would labor, with much pain and great difficulty, until about 2:30 pm... I thought she was going to die! Then it was off to labor and delivery, in came the doctor and out came the baby. Yep... LeTisha Dawn Allen, all 9 pounds of her, was born a little after 3:00 pm.

A few days later, we loaded up the car with our little bundle and headed for our breezy (literally) little house in Paden. I remember holding her and rocking her and not wanting anyone, including the grandma and aunts, to hold her... guess I was a little over protective. She was my girl.

Now she's grown and has a couple of children of her own. Where has time gone? I have watched her transition from a cute little girl to a beautiful woman. I have watched from a distance as she has handled difficulty with grace and maturity well beyond her years and I have observed her handle life's good and easy times with the same grace and maturity. I am a proud dad!

To Scott, she is a loving helpmate; to Bree and Jarrett, she's mommy; to her friends, she is loyal; to her God, she is faithful; to her family, she is special; and to me... well... to me, she's still MY GIRL.