
To those of us that are blessed to be parents, I think we would all agree that some of the greatest lessons we’ve received as adults have come from our children! They don’t have a worry in the world! They believe with all there heart that mommy and daddy have all the answers to every question they ask! They emulate the type of faith we as parents ought to have in our Heavenly Father 🙂
Tonight, I want to share with you, the rimpology101 readers, a lesson I learned from my eldest child, my daughter, Ameia Renee Rimpson. A beautiful young lady she is! Never seeks attention, and in most cases is overshadowed by her younger triplet brothers and twin sisters. Its a common scene on a Rimpson family outing. Everyone is in awe of the triplets and twins, while Ameia (me-me) stays next to mommy and daddy, never jealous, but at times it seems as if she’s proud, proud to be the big sister to such an extraordinary family!
As a Father, its very easy to fall into the warped thinking that because we work hard, and sacrifice so much, our families AUTOMATICALLY know that we love them! Even if we don’t say it everyday. Yep, that was me, guilty as charged. But I didn’t realize the damage it was causing, especially to my Me-Me…
One day while driving home from work, I was in deep thought about what I should purchase Me-Me for her birthday, she was turning 9 years old in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to get her something special! I’ll never forget, I exited off the freeway, approached the red light, and I heard a voice say to me in my mind, “Take Me-Me on her FIRST DATE”! I literally got excited at just the thought of it! For the rest of the ride home I put a game plan together! My wife would do her hair in a different appropriate for her age style,she would put a little polish on her nails! Let her pick out her favorite dress! I wanted this to be huge, and all about Me-Me! I had no idea how much of an impact that moment would have in both me and my daughters life…
The day was finally here, Me-Me had been waiting in expectation for her FIRST date with the first and only man she’s ever known, her Daddy! She was so excited, her mom and I did everything we could to boost the momentum of this AWESOME occasion, this was my baby’s FIRST date!
Before arriving home from work to pick up my date, I stopped and purchased 2 gifts for my daughter, a lock box, and a diary… In the first few pages of her diary, I wrote my daughter a letter. I shared with her how proud I am to be her Father, I told her that I have no greater joy in life than to see a smile on her face… I shared quite a bit with my daughter in that letter, most of it will always be between she and I 🙂 I said to myself as I was writing, “I cant wait until she is old enough to understand what I wrote, maybe in a few yrs”….
So I had the gifts, grabbed some flowers, and I arrived at our home. I was decked out in my favorite black suit, and Me-Me in her favorite dress! I opened the door, and yelled Me-Me are you ready? She came downstairs glowing! She was so excited y’all! I had never seen such a glow on my daughters face before. This was her moment! She looked so beautiful! The other five children wanted to go so bad, but I said no no no! This night is for daddies special little lady! Me-Me wasn’t the only one really excited. I got out of the house just in enough time to wipe the tears from my eyes without my family seeing me. I didn’t realize how special this night was until that moment, and I was overcome with emotion 🙂
With her flowers in hand, I made sure I was the perfect gentleman! She didn’t have to lift a finger, she literally smiled all the way to our destination! She didn’t know it, but I had made reservations at the “Towers of America’s” restaurant, a major attraction in the city of San Antonio. The “restaurant in the sky”! At the very top, it overlooks downtown San Antonio, its a beautiful view! I told her to order anything she wanted on the menu, and just like mom, it was no coincidence that she chose the most expensive thing on the menu 🙂 It was ok tho, this was her night!
After dinner and desert, I presented Me-Me with hers gifts, first her lockbox, and lastly, her diary…
As my daughter opened her diary and began to read, I was overwhelmed with emotion as I saw the tears form in her eyes! My baby actually understood what I put in that letter! After reading it, she jumped up and ran into my arms as if SHE NEEDED TO HEAR THOSE WORDS FROM HER DADDY!! She cried so hard in my arms, and it was at that moment that I knew God had spoken to me when he told me to “take Me-Me on her FIRST date!” I didn’t understand the impact when I first heard, but at that moment chills went down my spine! Something happened to my daughter that night! Any doubt she had that her daddy didn’t love or care for her WAS ELIMINATED, drowned in LOVE!
A standard was set with her first date! When the time is right, whoever you are young brotha, you better come correct! She already has a standard!
A standard that was ordained by God through her daddy, on her FIRST DATE..
Its rimpology101, sharing a piece of me with you…. Love n Respect