Earlier this summer, I challenged myself to write a song about you- specifically, about our relationship as father and daughter.
This past week, I finished writing the song and published it to my YouTube channel.
The concept is this: You are a princess. Since I am your father, that means that I am a king.
Here are the lyrics:
Never thought I’d be the king of anything/Or live in a castle married to a queen/ It never seemed that would be my reality/Then I met a girl who changed everything/Those blue eyes are still a mystery/And when she smiles at me, it’s all that I really need
Well I’m a king if she’s a princess/A slumber party in an Elsa dress/The proudest ever ballerina, the blondest ever senorita/I’m the beast and she’s the beauty/An interruption to my routine/She’s always happy when she sees me/I am royalty, believe me/If she’s a princess, I’m a king
My midlife crisis came a little soon/An existential view with doom and gloom/I was so confused thinking, “What am I here to do?”/Then I met a girl who changed everything/Those blue eyes are still a mystery/And when she smiles at me, it’s all that I really need
I wrote a song a couple of months ago called “These are the Good Ole Days.”
It is a reminder to myself that despite all the craziness in this world that we are living in right now, I have a true blessing with you as my daughter.
I know that years from now, I am going to bitterly miss living in the time I live in now, because I get to be around you everyday.
This 4 year-old version of you especially speaks to me.
You are in some ways the cure I need; the offset to my existential crisis that I have been working through for a couple of years now.
Your sweetness reaches me in a way that I need in my life right now.
It was meant to be that the 4 year-old version of you and the 39 year-old version of me would exist at the exact same time; right when we needed each other the most.
You and I started a new routine last week: After I get back from the gym in the morning, you jump on your bike and join me as I go on a two mile run.
Last Saturday morning as we were heading out on our 2 mile excursion, we both noticed a very interesting lizard by the garage door. It looked really cool.
By Saturday afternoon, you set up an amusement park for it in the garage and had hand-tamed it.
By Sunday afternoon, I went to the pet store to buy some meal worms for the lizard.
By Monday afternoon, the lizard was officially living in the hamster’s travel case, in a corner in your bedroom.
And by Tuesday, we learned that Sargento the Pine Lizard was actually a girl.
Last week you were so excited to get to start going to ballet class.
It just so happened that in the same strip mall as your preschool, there is a dance studio that is offering a trial dance class for your age group.
Needless to say, I knew there weren’t be much of a “trial” to it, because after your first class last week, you made the decision to start taking tap dance lessons once the trial period ends.
As I look at this picture of you in your ballet dress, I can’t help but think of the Elton John song:
