Some, complementarian or otherwise, may believe that we egalitarians don’t love our fathers. Well, I loved my father. I want to share some memories of my father to show why I loved him so much.
When I was twenty, I had to take some medicine. My father was worried that the condition I had would interrupt my studies. As a result, he asked me daily if I was taking my medicine. My mother asked him to stop. A couple of days later I received a phone call. When I picked it up I heard a very low voice say ‘Did you take your medicine today?’ I said ‘Yes, dad.’ My father said bye and abruptly hung up. This happened again two days later. I think my mother caught him, because he never did it again.
Another time, we couldn’t buy anything extra because money was tight. My mother wanted to buy a new dress, however because of our situation she decided to wait several months, until Mother’s Day. But, my father told her to go buy one right away. He said ‘The mother of the family shouldn’t have to wait until Mother’s Day to get a new dress.’
Both my sister and I lived hundreds of miles away from my parents at different times. I remember when my sister lived far away. Whenever she would call, my father would get excited. I told my sister about this and she said ‘Dad used to get that way whenever you called also (when I had lived far away).’
He’s been gone now several years, and there’s not a day that I don’t think of him.
I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to have such fond memories as I do. But, I ask those who do to share them. Hopefully, any complementarians and/or others who may believe that we don’t love our fathers will read our memories and understand that we do, just as they do.
