My daughter, Kaitlin, turned 10 years old a couple of days ago. How the hell did 10 years go by so quickly???

Kaitlin IS Daddy's girl...without a doubt! And I think I could write pages upon pages about how she makes me fell, but that would just be the typical fatherly gush.

Thinking about the last 10 years, three moments stick out for me:

1.) The first is during the first two weeks after we brought her home. Of course, at that stage, all she did was eat, sleep and s#$T - but what I can "feel" today is her lying on my chest as we took naps together. It's odd, those naps were just that...naps, but the connection that was developing, even at that stage, is indescribable - literally. Souls connecting - that's the only way I know how to describe it.

2.) The second was at her spring concert when she was just 4 years old. She was one fo the performers and she did this Greek dance where she was swinging a hanky above her head and at the same time gyrating her hips. You could hear the entire room go "wooooooahhhhh" cause the way she was dancing it was almost like watching an adult. It was so good and she was so good. I overheard one of the other parents say "I can't believe how good she is." Another parent, seeing that I was filming her performance asked if she was min. I, of course, said yes and he jokingly said "good luck". I was filled with pride....

3.) The third is much more recent. One day at school, her class was given a pop quiz and although she's a pretty good student, on this occasion, she didn't do too well and the teacher gave her a bad mark. As she explained what happened with the quiz, it was obvious she was beating herself to a pulp for doing poorly. I hate that she was so disappointed in herself, but, strange as this may sound, I was really proud of how much she wanted to succeed and do well. From the "outside", you can't tell, but his kid is extremely sensitive...she feels everything deeply and I really admire that. She's a responsible kid with a good heart and love and pride really aren't strong enough words to describe how I feel about her. She's been an absolute joy in my life and I truly look forward to watching her grow up...however, my heart aches just thinking that one day she'll go out on her own and start her own family - it's a dad thing, so I'm sure all you other dad's out there will understand!

It's completely unrealistic, but my hope is that she will never ever stop being Daddy's girl!