The Years Went By
There were sacrifices.
A lot of them.
I didn't travel.
I didn't date much.
I didn't buy a new car.
I worked weekends.
I skipped vacations.
There were times when I wondered what my life would have looked like if I had chosen differently.
But then one of the girls would come home with a school award.
Or crawl into my bed after a nightmare.
Or hug me after a terrible day.
And those questions would disappear.
The girls grew up.
Ava became the organized one.
Claire was the outgoing one.
June was thoughtful and quiet, always observing everything before she spoke.
They were triplets, but they couldn't have been more different.
Still, they were inseparable.
And so were we.
Then Came College
When they received their college acceptance letters, I was overwhelmed.
All three had been accepted into good universities.
All three wanted to study different subjects.
And all three worried about leaving me alone.
I told them not to.
"You aren't responsible for taking care of me," I said.
"I've spent twenty-two years preparing you to leave."
I meant it.
Even though the house felt unbearably quiet after they left.
I started eating dinner alone.
The hallway became silent.
There were no shoes scattered by the door.
No arguments over the bathroom.
No voices calling, "Dad!"
I missed them terribly.
But I was proud.
More proud than I could explain.
Graduation Day
Twenty-two years after they arrived on my doorstep, I stood in a crowded stadium with a cheap camera in my hand.
My beard had turned gray.
My knee hurt constantly.
I was older than I had ever imagined I would be when those babies came into my life.