True Stories of a Single Father

There was a time where I lived the life of a single father with three amazing girls. I have so many stories from that time. It was hard mostly but I would love to relive it. Some times the hard times turn out to be the best times. And I never knew how much I would appreciate those days later in life. Today my mind dug up something out of nowhere, a specific event that occurred that involved my middle daughter. She has always had such a tender and beautiful heart, always willing to help. She is still like that and from time to time it breaks through the I am almost eighteen shield she wears most days now.

I was working a fulltime job at the time of this story. We had a morning ritual that I would like to say ran like clockwork but in all honesty, it seldom ran OK and at the best of times it was only a nearly a disaster. I remember how tired I was then. A full day of work followed by a hot meal for everyone, baths, laundry, and another 20 things I can't think of right now.

This one morning, in particular, I was really tired and I woke up in a daze. I made my way to the bathroom for my part of the morning which, by the way, was usually the only peaceful moment in our early morning excursions. Mainly because everyone else was still asleep.

Part of my morning, just like most other people was to brush my teeth. A simple thing that everyone over the ager of five can do without supervision. So, this particular morning I had the perfect teeth brushing form, but something was off. My toothbrush left a really bad taste in my mouth. I half mindedly determined that my toothbrush had to be dirty so I cleaned it and went on with my day.

I am unsure how I didn't suspect something then. I can only offer the excuse of fatigue. In my life, I had never, up to that point, had a toothbrush that was in need of washing. Not exactly a normal occurrence and yes, I should have known that something was amiss, but I never proclaimed to be the brightest guy and I am pretty sure that none of the tools in my shed were sharp at that time.

The day went as usual and so did the afternoon and evening. As I brushed my teeth that night I found that the bad taste was back. With a bit of a more focused, and an awake mind, I checked the toothpaste but it seemed fine. Yes, that seemed like the rational thing to do at that moment. I was perplexed but being continually sleep deprived I felt that another washing would do for now and I would just get me a new one the following day.

The next morning I awoke to the weekend and to a clean toothbrush. Now I was both confused and grateful. The confusion was the stronger of the two states., but I didn't dwell on it because there were things to do. The day went as usual. A typical weekend hanging out at the house, Then I went to use the bathroom and walked in on my middle child using my toothbrush to clean the toilet.

Immediately I did the math and in this case, 2+2= I had brushed my teeth at least three times with a bad tasting toothbrush, my daughter was using my toothbrush to clean the toilet and I knew without asking this wasn't the first time she had "helped" But I asked anyway and my math was not wrong.

If you have children you know that some days are more interesting than others and sometimes, as parents, our reactions are not what they should be. I am proud to say that in this instance was not one of those times and I nailed the good dad thing. I didn't even get upset, and how could I, she was helping.

The good news is if anyone ever uses my toothbrush again to clean the toilet bowl I will know exactly what the bad taste is.