When you are a child, you learn quickly to distinguish the sounds of your parents’ footsteps walking through the halls of your house. Whether it’s the sound of your mom’s heels clicking down hardwood floors around 5 p.m. or the sound of your dad’s work boots clanging down the stairs, these sounds are as familiar as the clothes you wear or your favorite toy when you are a child. For me, it was always a little unique. My mom sounded like most- small heels or boots clicking on the floor as she took small, fast steps from the kitchen to her place of solace, her bedroom. However, I realized from a young age that my dad’s footsteps didn’t sound like every other kid’s dad. When my father was younger, before my parents were married, he was involved in a serious car wreck and severely broke his spinal cord and left leg. To this day, he walks with a limp, uses a leg brace, and has a pump inside his stomach that continually delivers medicine to his leg and back. He has a handicapped license plate, gets double-checked by TSA at airports because his pump sets off the alarms, and is considering getting serious spinal plate fusion surgery. While I know that my dad is different from the others because of his accident, it never occurred to me when I was young that my dad was any less capable, less able, or different than any of the other daddies. No matter what pain he was probably in on a daily basis, he still lifted me and my older sister into the air and onto his shoulders every day when he got home from work. He still taught me how to through a ball, mow the grass, and ride a bike. He took my family on vacations all around the world, hiking up mountains in Arizona and Wyoming, traipsing all around Disney World and beaches, and went hiking and camping with me more times than I can remember. If something was broken, my dad could fix it. If something was wrong, he would take
When you are a child, you learn quickly to distinguish the sounds of your parents’ footsteps walking through the halls of your house. Whether it’s the sound of your mom’s heels clicking down hardwood floors around 5 p.m. or the sound of your dad’s work boots clanging down the stairs, these sounds are as familiar as the clothes you wear or your favorite toy when you are a child. For me, it was always a little unique. My mom sounded like most- small heels or boots clicking on the floor as she took small, fast steps from the kitchen to her place of solace, her bedroom. However, I realized from a young age that my dad’s footsteps didn’t sound like every other kid’s dad. When my father was younger, before my parents were married, he was involved in a serious car wreck and severely broke his spinal cord and left leg. To this day, he walks with a limp, uses a leg brace, and has a pump inside his stomach that continually delivers medicine to his leg and back. He has a handicapped license plate, gets double-checked by TSA at airports because his pump sets off the alarms, and is considering getting serious spinal plate fusion surgery. While I know that my dad is different from the others because of his accident, it never occurred to me when I was young that my dad was any less capable, less able, or different than any of the other daddies. No matter what pain he was probably in on a daily basis, he still lifted me and my older sister into the air and onto his shoulders every day when he got home from work. He still taught me how to through a ball, mow the grass, and ride a bike. He took my family on vacations all around the world, hiking up mountains in Arizona and Wyoming, traipsing all around Disney World and beaches, and went hiking and camping with me more times than I can remember. If something was broken, my dad could fix it. If something was wrong, he would take