Birthday girl, daddy loves you

She was still a baby very recently, but she has become a little girl with her own personality overnight. Which prompts me to question the role I play in her upbringing. Obviously her mom, the lovely Snapdragon, is a great parent. Most women are. But the influence of a good father is often overlooked. Their role simply cannot be filled by others, as I have seen from our neighbours over the past weeks.

The woman who rents the home next to ours used to be married to a giant biker who plays the guitar badly. Until she found out his platonic, lesbian friend is, in fact, neither platonic, nor lesbian. She stayed alone with her little daughter for a year until she met an obnoxious guy who moved in with his girlfriend. This gentleman soon proved to be the scourge of the complex.

According to the gossip, he slept with both women, indulged in regular bouts of domestic violence, assaulted a teenager in the area and entertained the married women in the complex with cat calls and loud whistles.

Two months ago, we had a conversation which involved a lot of shouting, swearing and finger wagging from me; and some shivering and cowering from him, with the result that he has left Snapdragon alone since. But since lockdown started, the drunken orgies next door increased, which forced several households in the area to speak to the owners of the unit, the body corporate and eventually the police. They have now been evicted and our complex will return to normal.

But I’m afraid the little girl next door will be left with emotional and psychological scars for the rest of her life. Her father, the unfriendly motorcyclist, is trying everything possible to get custody of his child. Sometimes, a grumpy biker can be the better parent …

I don’t hope to be the better parent in our household. Snapdragon is an excellent mom. If I can only be half the parent she is, it will be the best birthday present I can ever give my little sweetheart. I don’t even want to be a good father. I want to be a dad. There is a world of difference between the two.

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