I was excited the day I graduated high school but the excitement soon faded away. When I walked the stage to receive my degree I smiled from ear to ear but soon the smile went back to normal. The day I got married I was walking on sunshine and still am walking on that same sunshine, but some moons have come my way. The day C.J. was born, quite frankly, might go down as one of my proudest moments. I say that because the feeling has not gone away yet. Anytime someone asks about her or they respond to one of her pictures on my desk at work, a feeling comes over me and my chest pokes out a little.
I feel this way because God has blessed me with a responsibilty to nurture, protect, teach and provide for one of His children. He created C.J. in his image just for me to be her Daddy here on earth. He gave her some of my looks (of course) and her personality is beginning to bud. She is full of life, and is quite the little loud one too. She must get that from her Daddy, lol! C.J. will be heard!
What I am most proud of is that C.J. is very responsive. Each night Shatema bathes her, moisturizes her skin, gets her all warm and snuggly, comforts her, prays with her and then begins to reveal knowledge to her by way of a very diverse literature collection. During this time I let them be so they could have their mommy/daughter time. Most of the time I am feverishly working and I do not hear a thing. Tonight was different. As I worked at the computer I could hear most of what was going on. I paused and listened, and actually heard C.J. responding to what Shatema was reading. She was loud and on cue too. A huge grin came upon my face and I even typed a message to a friend that I wanted to shed a tear because of what I heard. I told her that I was a proud poppa bear.
I was read to as a child and always had an extensive library but I never enjoyed reading. I could read very well but sitting down and reading a book was not my thing. It was not until later in life when I began to love research that I had a desire to read, but it is difficult because I did not practice as a child. It is the reason why I am very particular with regard to making sure that C.J. is read to daily. The babysitter reads, Mommy reads and Daddy reads with C.J., and to hear her being responsive tells me she enjoys what she is hearing.
It is my prayer that I have many more proud moments to log into my memory book. August 7th, 2009 was the beginning and November 10th, 2009 is another log entry. What is next? We do not know yet but I anxiously await the moment it comes. Until next time, always remember to pray because prayer still changes things!
