My daddy was an usher at church.  He was always so proud to serve.  I often wish my husband could have met him.  They are both alike in many ways.  I remember when Burk was asked to usher and how proud he was.  I think he was the youngest by about 20 years.  Ever since our little one was a baby she has sought him out wherever he was in the sanctuary serving.  She used to say, “DA DA!” and point her tiny little finger at him.  The whole congregation saw it and loved the way her eyes lit up whenever she found him.  Now she waves at him and he smiles back at her as we pass on our way up to the high altar; myself for the Eucharist and her for a blessing.  I remember my daddy used to wink at me a lot and it would make my heart flip.  He was the most handsome, strongest man I have ever known and we were incredibly close.  Now I see my little one looking up at her daddy with the same rapt, adoring look I had for my father.  When the service was over she ran up to him and said, “Daddy!  Hold me!  You’re the handsomest man in the world!”  I got to capture this precious moment in time thanks to always having my iPhone in hand.  (Practically the only time I don’t check it is in church.)  It has often been said I look like my mother but with my father’s eyes.  Now it is said our little one looks like me but with her father’s eyes.  I imagine my mother must have felt the same looking at my father and me, as she so often took our picture together, with all the love she had showing in her eyes.  I pray our only child will be led to choose a gentle, kind man just as I chose my husband to be and my mother chose to be hers.  The American priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Theodore Hesburgh, said, “The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”  I grew up watching the deep, faithful, selfless, and abiding love my father had for my mother.  At 34, I waited a very long time to find a relationship like theirs for myself.  I pray for the man whom my daughter chooses; that he will love the Lord and his wife with all of his heart.  And I pray my that my daughter has a little girl who continues the cycle of ushering in love.