Daddy's Little Girl Shoes

"No one loves me just like you do
No one knows me just like you do
No one can compare to the way my eyes fit in yours.
You'll always be my father.
And I'll always be your joy.

- "Your Joy" by Chrisette Michelle


"When I get married, I want my husband to be just like my dad."

Those were the words that I said as a little girl, when I was giving a speech for a class presentation/show. I will always remember the day that I said those words, and how to this day, my own father can still remember how good those words made me feel. Those were the days when I wore my "Daddy's Little Girl" shoes. In preparation for the show, I remember my mom taking me to the mall to buy me a new pair of shoes for the day of the show. She was always good about making sure that I looked my best no matter where I was going, and that still applies to me today.

When I first said those words, I never realized how much of an impact that they would have on me even today. I have always thought of my father as my Superman. He was always the strongest man in the world, and to this day, I'm still his little girl. I began to truly understand love not just by what I read in story books and saw in movies. But I learned about the way that a man should love his woman, by witnessing my dad's love for my mother. Ever since day one, my dad was always so proud to have my mother as his woman. He made a great effort every single day to see to it that she smiled. They've been together for over 30 years, and that spark still has not left their marriage. People always notice how he opens the doors for her, how he pulls out her chair, how he will stop at nothing to make her happy, and just how he proclaims to the world that she is indeed the love of his life.

As I became of age to have boyfriends and be attracted to men, I realized how much my dad's acts of love and chivalry played a role in what I desired in a man. I desired men who would put me first. Men who would display the long-forgotten old school chivalry that he does. Men who would make me a priority. Men who would simply be the man that my father is to my own mother. Now, some people may say that's just too demanding. But as a child, my father treated me like his own princess. So I knew that my future husband would have to treat me like I'm his queen, and the right one will do that each and every day, come what may.

It was the lesson of chivalry that I learned while walking in my "Daddy's Little Girl" shoes. I learned through him that only a true man - my one true love - will put me on a pedestal and treat me like the queen that I deserved to be. It was then that I learned that boys will come and go. But only a real man will treat me even better than my own father.

Only then will I be able to say that those words that I spoke as a young girl have come to pass.