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Daddy’s Girl

 I hope that you had a Happy Thanksgiving. I wish to share a heartwarming true story with you from my childhood. I am thankful for my father.

     “Oh”, I said. My hands were cold and so was my face. It was a cold, windy winter day when I was four. My heart jumped for joy as I played in the snow, making and throwing snowballs, as we walked down the sidewalk. I was with my dad. He held my hand when we crossed the street. He was tall and very strong. I knew that he loved me and that he would protect me from any and all danger.

     I asked him, “Where are we going Daddy?”

     He said, “To see the doctor.”

     I father questioned him, “Why are we going to see the doctor, Daddy?”

     He said, “The doctor is going to check you out to make sure that you are still well.”

     Finally, we arrived at the doctor’s office. I ran in to escape the cold. I was so grateful to be in a warm place! The waiting room was full of people. Many of the people looked sad. Some looked like they were in pain.

     We had to wait a long, long time, as the nurse called the people one by one to see the doctor. Finally, we were called. This was my first visit! The nurse, who guided us in, had a white dress on which came to her knees. She also had a little white cap on her head.

     “Let’s go into this examination room, honey. My name is Miss. Taylor,” she said. “My name is Mr. Dillard,” my dad said, as he followed closely behind us. “Stand on the scale,” she said. “Thirty-five pounds.” She wrote it down in the paper book. “Sit down,” she said. Next, the nurse rapped a piece of cloth around my left arm. The cloth had a tube in it. There was a ball at the end of the tube. As she squeezed the ball, the cloth got tighter and tighter, she looked at it, and let all of the air out of it. She wrote her book. Lastly, she picked up a skinny glass tube. “Put this under your tongue,” the nurse said.  She waited a while, took it out of my mouth, looked at it, and wrote something down. “Wait here, honey, the doctor will be right in to see you,” she said as she left the room.

     “What’s in that jar, Daddy?” I asked as I pointed to it.

      “Those are tongue depressors”, he said.

     “What’s that?” I asked.

     “They are big popsicle sticks that the doctor puts on your tongue and tells you to say, ‘ah’, so that he can look down your throat.”

     “Oh!”, I replied. I pointed to another jar filled with fuzzy white things in it. “What’s that?” I asked.

     “Those are cotton balls that the doctor uses to clean your skin with,” He replied.

     Right after my dad answered that question, a tall man came into the room wearing a white coat.

     “Hi, Mr. Dillard. Hi, sweetie. What’s your name?”

     “Renee,” I replied.

     “I’m Dr. Watson.”

     He proceeded to go into the jar a picked out a big popsicle stick and put it in my mouth. “Stick out your tongue and say, ‘ah’,” he said.

     I stuck out my tongue and said, “ah”.

     “Your throat looks good,” he said.

     Dr. Watson looked at my chart and said, “Everything looks good, your weigh, your blood pressure, and your temperature.”

     He then proceeded to get something that looked like a long plastic tube with a big, big needle on the end of it, put it into a tiny, tiny jar, and filled the tube up with what seemed to me to be water. Next, he reached inside of the jar, got a cotton ball, and put something on it. He walked over to where I was, wiped me with the wet cotton ball and put the needle next to my left arm. I became terrified! I thought to myself, Oh no! Is he about to stick me with that big, big needle?

     Dr. Watson said to me, “Don’t be afraid, all you’ll feel is a little stick.”

     I cringed as he stuck me. I yelled and started to cry. It was at that point I could feel the anger welling up inside of me. I thought, He hurt me! Dr. Watson put a band-aid on my arm and left.

     My dad put my sweater on me, and then I put my coat on. He put my scarf around my neck, and I put on my hat and mittens. I was still very angry. My dad took my hand as we walked down the hall. When we started to walk pass           Dr. Watson I began to feel very bold since I had my strong dad with me. I knew that he would defend me.

     “Don’t you bother me no more!” I said very angrily. The nurse and the doctor laughed at me. I thought, it’s not funny!

Signed: Renee D. Warring of Uniquely and Wonderfully Made Ministries