Writing About My First Love

Retelling My Father’s Tales — Story of My HeArt Pure Fiction Challenge

Me, age 4 with my father

Everyone that knows me knows that I’m a daddy’s girl. And everyone that knows me knows the complicated means by which my father became my daddy.

But to review, for those that don’t know, my daddy was originally my uncle, the oldest brother of my biological father. My biological father embarked on an ill-fated affair with a (still legally married) white woman (my biological mother). She died in August of 1971, leaving her unemployed lover with 3 children, aged 6, 18 months and 3 weeks old that he couldn’t support. I was the baby.

I’m a little more than 3 weeks old, but you get the idea.

The man pictured above rescued us. He took us all in despite being 42 years old and having a 15-year-old son. He wasn’t asked. He just showed up for his brother and his kids. he kept my brother and sister for over a year, allowing their father to go to school, obtain a trade and make a home for them. He adopted me, and in doing so became my first love.

As the story goes, he came to the hospital and I grabbed his nose and at that moment he knew I was his. Maybe I picked him by grabbing his nose. Either way, I’ve been a daddy’s girl ever since.