Lael Olivia – my beautiful first born daughter
I promise to always quench your thirst for a father
To fulfill all your needs, and to always be there for you
To stay faithful to your mother, and to always prepare for you
A home of stability, grounded in faith and a will to be
A family that serves God, both lovingly and willingly
To cherish all the simple things in life that we take for granted
Like how you’re so polite when you ask me to make a sandwich

And your limitless energy, how it’s always refillable
How you pronounce all your words with one extra little syllable
You invite me to your room for a tea party or a picnic
Or to sit down on the floor by your bedside and read you Thidwick
The Big-Hearted Moose or The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
Or that look of concern on your face when your tooth is loose
How you ask if you can cuddle with your stuffed giraffe or your baby sheep
And how you rub your eyes and yawn when I rock you to sleep

CHORUS:
A real man, a father, there's a moment in time
When you realize that you've grown up, and that moment was mine

Ever since you were one you called your stuffed animals “creatures”
Ever since you were two you said you wanted to be a teacher
You’d play school in your bedroom, make up names for the students
Imagination running wild everywhere that you went
Staring at the TV, mesmerized and tired looks
Not even old enough to read, you memorized entire books
You’d wake up in the morning, legs rolled up on your PJ pants
Watch Yo Gabba Gabba, dance with Brobee and DJ Lance
Center of attention, you’re the center of each day’s plans
The center of my entire life, you made me a man
A real man, a father, there’s a moment in time
When you realize that you’ve grown up, and that moment was mine
When they took your mom to surgery and said that I had to stay
Alone in the other room, feeling helpless, I had to pray
And that gut-wrenching, powerless, helpless feeling was the worst
Torn from my wife and my soon-to-be first born

CHORUS

I went through more emotions in that one single night
Than I collectively did in the first 26 years of my life
Out of nowhere, they say we need an emergency c-section
Utter chaos, we’ve gotta move with urgency, 3 seconds
Ago, I was so excited about being a dad-to-be
Now I’m trying to comfort my miserable wife in her agony
Trying to be the strong, supportive husband that I had to be
Trying to stay calm in the storm under clouds of tragedy
How do you comfort a woman, when you’ve never even been there?
What if I said “it’s okay” and it wasn’t, that wouldn’t have been fair
Tears rolling down, I’ve got my head in my palms
Feeling desperate and alone, I started reading the Psalms
I learned that even in the midst of disastrous under-planning
Even in the midst of backstabbing and under-handing
Even in the midst of suddenly-torn-asunder families
We can take solace in the fact that God’s peace passes understanding