Latest / RealTalkwithMikeD / Episode 71 - A Father and His Daughter - A Bond Nothing Can Break!

Transcript

Episode 71 - A Father and His Daughter - A Bond Nothing Can Break! · RealTalkwithMikeD

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Real Talk with Mike D. All right. Welcome
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: back to Real Talk with Mike D. I am the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: one and the only and the original Mike D. And
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: here we talk about real life. Real feelings, real struggles,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and the things that matter most in this crazy world
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: we live in. Now today, I want to talk about
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: something that hits me right in the heart. Something that
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: no amount of money can buy, no fancy car can replace,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and no amount of success can ever measure. And that
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: is the bond between a father and his daughter. You know,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of things in this world that
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: come and go. Jobs come and go. Money comes and goes.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Friends come and go. relationships change, people who you thought
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: would always be there sometimes disappear when life gets difficult.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: But when you're a father and you have a daughter
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: you love with all your heart, there's something about that
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: relationship that is different. It's a connection that goes deeper
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: than words. It's a love that doesn't need to be explained.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: And it's a responsibility that stays with you for the
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: rest of your life because the moment you become a father,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: something changes inside. Suddenly, your world isn't just about you anymore.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: There's another person who matters more than you ever thought possible.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: And when that little girl looks up at you, trusts you,
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  Speaker 1: reaches for your hand, or calls you dad, you realize
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that you're part of something much bigger than yourself. You're
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: not just a father. You're her protector, her supporter, her teacher,
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  Speaker 1: her cheerleader, and hopefully one of the people she knows
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: best she can always trust and count on. And let
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: me tell you something, being a father isn't always easy.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: But loving your daughter, that's one of the greatest gifts
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: life can ever give you. So today we're talking about
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the laughter, the memories, the sacrifices, the worries, the lessons,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and the unconditional love that makes the bond between a
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: father and his daughter so incredibly special. You know, there's
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: something powerful about being a father. You can spend years
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: thinking you understand what love is. You can love your family,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: your friends, and the people who matter to you. But
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: when you become a father, suddenly that love takes on
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: a whole new meaning. Your priorities change. Things that used
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: to seem important don't seem quite as important anymore. You
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: start thinking about somebody else's future, somebody else's happiness, and
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: somebody else's well-being. you begin to understand that your decisions
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: don't just affect you. They affect that little girl who's
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: looking to you for guidance. And whether she's a newborn baby,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a little girl running around the house, a teenager who
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: thinks dad knows absolutely nothing, or a grown woman making
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: her own way in the world, she is still your daughter.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: And you are still her father. Now let's be honest.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Fatherhood isn't some perfect movie where everybody smiles, the music plays,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and everything works out beautifully at the end. Real life
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: does not work that way. There are sleepless nights. There
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: are financial worries. There are days when you're exhausted from work.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Your bills are piling up and you're trying to figure
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: out how you're going to make everything work. There are
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: moments when you wonder whether you're doing a good enough job.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: You ask yourself, Am I giving her everything she needs?
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Am I teaching her the right things? Am I preparing
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: her for the world she's going to face? And sometimes
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: you don't have all the answers. But here's what I've
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: learned about being a father. You don't have to be
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: perfect to make a difference in your daughter's life. You
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: just have to be present. You just have to care.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: You have to show up even on the days when
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: you're struggling yourself because your daughter doesn't need a father
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: who has every answer to every question. She needs a
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: father who loves her enough to keep trying. And that,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: my friends, is what fatherhood is all about. But you
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: know what else is amazing about daughters? They have a
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: way of getting right into your heart without even trying.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: One minute, You're going about your day, worrying about work, money, responsibilities,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and all the other nonsense life throws at you. Then
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  Speaker 1: your daughter calls you, sends you a message, gives you
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a hug, or tells you something that makes you laugh.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: And for a little while, all that other stuff doesn't
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: seem quite so heavy. It's amazing how one person can
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: make such a difference in your life. Sometimes it's the
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: little things that mean so much. A conversation in the car.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: A joke that only the two of you understand. A
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: holiday spent together. A memory from when she was little
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: that still makes you both smile years later. Or maybe
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: it's just knowing that she's out there in the world
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: doing her best, growing, learning, and becoming her own person.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Those moments don't always look extraordinary when they're happening, but
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: years later you realize that They were some of the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: most important moments of your life. And here's something every
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: father needs to understand. You don't always realize how quickly
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: time is moving until you look back. One day you're
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: helping your little girl with something she couldn't do herself. Then,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: before you know it, she's becoming more independent. She's making decisions.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: She's developing her own opinions. She's building her own life.
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  Speaker 1: And you're standing there thinking, wait a minute, who gave
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: you permission to grow up so fast? Seriously, can somebody
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: slow this thing down? Because fathers, really, we aren't exactly
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: famous for being emotionally prepared for their daughters growing up.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: That's a fact. We might act tough. We might make jokes.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: We might pretend that we're perfectly comfortable with everything changing.
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  Speaker 1: But deep down, there's a part of us that wishes
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: we could hold on to those little moments just for
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a little bit longer. Not because we don't want our
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  Speaker 1: daughters to grow up. We absolutely want them to grow
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: up and succeed and become everything they dream of becoming.
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  Speaker 1: We just wish time didn't move so damn fast. And
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  Speaker 1: that is the beautiful thing about being a father. You
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: spend years teaching your daughter how to stand on her
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  Speaker 1: own two feet. even though a part of you will
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: always remember that little girl who needed you to hold
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  Speaker 1: her hand. Now, let's talk about something that every loving
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: father understands. You worry about your daughter. You worry about
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: her safety. You worry about the people she meets. You
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: worry about whether people will treat her with kindness and respect.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: You worry about whether she'll get her heart broken. You
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: worry about whether she'll believe in herself when the world
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: tries to make her feel like she's not good enough.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: And sometimes you worry about things she doesn't even know
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  Speaker 1: you're worrying about. That is what love does. It makes
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: you care about things you might never have thought twice
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  Speaker 1: about before. When you're a father, you want to protect
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: your daughter from every disappointment, every cruel person, every painful experience,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: and every mistake that could hurt her. If we could
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: build a protective bubble around our daughters and keep every
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: bad thing in the world away from them, some of
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: us would probably be shopping for bubble wrap right now.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I know I would. But unfortunately, that's not how life works.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: We can't protect our daughters from every difficult situation. We
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: can't stop every person from disappointing them. We can't prevent heartbreak.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: And as much as we'd like to, we can't make
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: every decision for them. What we can do is teach
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: them their worth. We can remind them that they deserve respect.
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  Speaker 1: We can teach them that love should never require them
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: to abandon who they are. We can encourage them to
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: recognize their strengths trust their judgment, and walk away from
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: people who repeatedly treat them badly. But most importantly, we
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: can let them know that they never have to face
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the world believing they are alone, because they never will be.
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  Speaker 1: Because no matter how old your daughter gets, she should
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  Speaker 1: know that she has somebody in her corner, somebody who
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: believes in her, somebody who wants to see her succeed,
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  Speaker 1: somebody who will tell her the truth even when the
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: truth isn't what she wants to hear, and somebody who
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: will love her even when life gets messy. Now, being
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: protective doesn't mean controlling every part of her life. It
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: means giving her the confidence to make her own choices
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: while knowing she has someone she can turn to when
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  Speaker 1: she needs help. A good father doesn't just try to
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  Speaker 1: keep his daughter safe. He helps her become strong enough
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  Speaker 1: to navigate the world. And that's a gift that she
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: can carry with her for the rest of her life.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: And if my daughter Tiffany is listening to this right now,
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  Speaker 1: I want you to know a few things. First off,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I love you with every ounce of blood in my body.
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  Speaker 1: You are the single most important person in my life.
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  Speaker 1: I could not have asked for a better daughter than
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  Speaker 1: what I got with you. You make me smile. You
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: make me laugh. You make me angry. You are the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: sunshine on a rainy day. I want you to know
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: that I will always be here for you. I will
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: always be in your corner. I will always be here
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  Speaker 1: to protect you. And I'll always be here to listen. Tiffany,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I love you more than words could ever imagine. And
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I hope you know that. But ladies and gentlemen, that
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  Speaker 1: is going to do it for today's episode. I greatly
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: appreciate you all being here. I appreciate you listening. And
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I will see you all on the next episode.