Her dad was always her protector, since he was used to having two sets of twin brothers at home. She was his little girl, and everyone else had been well advised to understand that. Sometimes he would do the world for her, giving her his time, his energy, or even the shirt right off his back to pass on to someone in need. It was his generosity and kindness, and his quiet strength, that kept her seeing the world in a particular way. Her dad’s love was the most comforting thing to her.
When she first became engaged, one of the first things her father mentioned was going looking at wedding dresses. He was determined to go. She had to explain to him that traditionally, this was an activity for mothers and bridesmaids, and the dress was to be a surprise. But her father had his own image of how she should look walking down the aisle, and he was determined to be part of it. So he went, along with her mother and eight other women. Her father had the strongest opinions in the room, and in the end, fell in love with the same dress she had selected. She could see the pride in his eyes and knew in that moment that the wedding day would be emotional for both of them.
Her family had a deep, tight-wound love that came from their Greek and Italian backgrounds. Family always came first. Her brothers were her closest friends, and there were always friends there who felt as much a part of the family as the blood relatives. Her mother taught her and her brothers to love dearly and to stick together, come hell or high water. When she met the love of her life, her family readily accepted him. He became an additional son to her parents and an additional brother to her brothers and sister. It felt bittersweet to let go of her last name, something that had always mattered to her—the name Gasbarro—but she took comfort in the thought that she would gain an additional family that would accept her as she is.
She valued his opinion above that of anyone else. He was the one she always called first, the voice that was always in her corner. The man she decided to marry was a reflection of her father. As a kid, her father would sit her on the counter and blow-dry her hair while listening to Shania Twain and the Spice Girls, just to make her giggle. He built her a miniature Corvette so she could keep up with her brothers’ truck toys. He made her feel as if she was the most important girl in the world. Searching for a lover who would love and cherish her the same way was an experience she thought was only possible in dreams.
But what to give her father on the day of her wedding? She wanted to give him something special, something deserving of all he had given to her. It was to be just a small engraved keychain, one that he could carry around with him whenever he wanted. In the box, a note read: “Dad, You will always be the first man I ever loved.”
During their first meeting, he kept the keychain close to his heart. He turned to see her in her wedding gown, and their feelings got the better of them. She never saw her father cry, but he cried openly as they hugged each other. He shed tears because all the anxiety he was experiencing disappeared and transformed into pride and love for her. As he escorted her down the aisle, he reminded her to breathe in a gentle voice, as if the words were just as much a reminder to himself. This walk down the aisle stirred a wave of memories in her heart: walks for ice cream, boat rides in the summer sun, homemade ravioli Sundays, bedtimes, and childhood giggles. This was the highlight of her life: walking with the man who first loved her and the man who would always be her daddy.
