Featured Fathers

My father became a single parent when my mother died of cancer. My sister and I were in 2nd and 5th grades. Growing up with just my father had its advantages and its disadvantages. I will never say that I regret growing up with just my dad but I will never say it was always easy either. It was just different.

I went to prom for three years in high school, but my father never understood the whole prom dress thing. The fact that one dress could cost $75 but the dress that you like is $175. So, he never dared to do the impossible, bless his heart, which was to take my sister and I prom dress shopping. He left that up to his sister. So, my aunt, her kids, and I would all pile into the mini van to search for that perfect dress. I grew up in very rural Iowa, so an hour to a prom dress store and an hour back was not unusual. But what Dad couldn’t understand was the three hours spent in the prom dress store.

Even though Dad complained about the price of the dress or why hair had to be done, he always made me feel like the most beautiful and stunning girl that ever lived. He knew that besides paying for the dress, making me feel special was his only job. And, he was good at it. --Jeni A. Madsen