“Thank Heaven for Little Girls” – Daddy’s girl.
Maur
ice Chevalier sang a song called “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”. It released the year I was born and adopted by my father as our song. I was definitely a daddy’s girl. I felt safe and loved in his arms.
Scarred for life : At two years old my dad discovered a lump above my tummy button, and a trip to the doctors consequently resulted in a diagnoses of an umbilical hernia. However, he decided it did not need to be operated on straight away. My dad, frightened for me, knew that the operation would leave a scar. His ‘little girl’ would be scarred for life. The lump grew and became very unsightly. My father could barely look at it. At last, at the age of four, I had my operation.
Our Song : The evening before I went into hospital, my father held me in his arms and put on the radio. ‘Our song’ was being played. Dad danced, holding me close as he would a partner and sang along:
Each time I see a little girl
Of five or six or seven
I can’t resist a joyous urge
To smile and say
Thank heaven for little girls
For little girls get
Bigger every day
Thank heaven for little girls
They grow up in
The most delightful way.
Those little eyes
So helpless and appealing
When they were flashing
Send you crashing
Through the ceiling
Thank heaven for little girls
Thank heaven for them all
No matter where,
No matter who
Without them
What would little boys do
Thank heaven
Thank heaven
Thank heaven for little girls.
An intimate moment : Finally, as the song ended, I wiped his tears away then brushed my hand through his Brylcreem hair; the stickiness made me express my distaste for this product. Seeing dad’s distress, I hugged him hard and kissed him many times. “Don’t worry. I will be alright, Daddy.” To my delight, the dance continued around the kitchen table long after the song finished on the radio.
Cherished memory : Consequently, this memory has always been my most vivid. Hence, this intimate moment with my dad has had to last me a lifetime. Two years later, he left my life via my parent’s divorce. As a result, God had to step into the breach. He became my daddy, and I, His ‘Daddy’s girl’. He would now sing to me “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” And in time, He put a new song on my heart:
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NKJV) “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
Do you have a vivid memory that has not dimmed over time or one that God has replaced to heal the previous one?
Labels: comforting, family, Father, love, song, tenderness
