The finish line is at the front of the beautifully decorated chapel where your daughter’s fiancé waits with tears in his eyes for his future wife, your baby.
But before you take that final walk, when it seems all eyes are focused on you, but you know everyone is looking at your daughter, time stands still.
You remember the day the fertility clinic called and told you the pregnancy test was positive. You’re going to have a baby, truly a gift from God.
Then you see your newborn daughter for the first time in the birthing room, and at that moment, nothing else matters. She instantly steals your heart.
The next day, you carefully place your daughter in her car seat, and with your wife sitting in the back seat, you drive down Interstate 75 from Miami Valley Hospital to Springboro well below the speed limit.
Then life happens. There are late-night feedings, her first steps, the first time she says “daddy,” followed quickly by “are we there yet?” pleas from the back seat.
Once you send your daughter to school, the sand in the hourglass falls even faster. Kindergarten becomes third grade, then you walk into the gym for sixth-grade graduation and see No. 17 helium balloons.
You ask your wife what those numbers mean and she says that’s when Hannah will graduate from high school.
In the blink of an eye, you’re at her Springboro Class of 2017 graduation.
You drop her off at Asbury University, and four years later, you’re loading up an U-haul with all her possessions. Your little girl is a college graduate.
While at college, she meets a guy, and despite all your concerns as a father, he checks all the boxes. Christian man. College educated. Great job. Good family. Sports fan.
Five years later, Hannah and Tad are engaged, and for the first time, you realize you’re about to be the second most important man in your daughter’s life.
For the next several months, your family’s life revolves around planning a wedding. I quickly learn to agree with everything Hannah wants.
Just that quickly, I’m standing in the groom’s suite at the Reverie, trying to figure out how to fasten my suspenders on my tuxedo and straighten the bow tie.
My hands are shaking.
One of the photographers informs me it’s time for my “first look,” my opportunity to see Hannah Lee McCrabb for the first time in her wedding dress.
I grab five tissues, figuring that will be plenty to get me through the wedding ceremony.
When I walk outside to the courtyard I’m told to look away from the door and wait for Hannah.
She taps me on my right shoulder and when I turn around, my knees buckle and my eyes fill with tears. My baby is beautiful.
Those five tissues are soaked.
We embrace, share a few words, pose for pictures and before she heads back to the bridal suite, she hands me a gift and a card.
I walk back to the groom’s suite, where some of the guys are playing Euchre, and open Hannah’s gift. It’s a small metal sign engraved with these words:
Dad,
Of all the walks we have taken together, this one is my favorite. As the first man I ever loved, know that even when you give me away, I will always be your little girl.
Thank you for walking by my side today and always. 11-14-25. Love, Hannah"
I melt right there on the leather couch.
When it’s time to walk Hannah down the aisle, I wonder how I will react. But surprisingly, as the song “I get to love you,” plays, those inside the chapel stand and the doors at the back of the church swing open, I feel complete calmness.
While I will always be Hannah’s father, and Tad’s father-in-law, those final steps down the aisle feel like the finish line and the start of another race at the same time.
Columnist Rick McCrabb writes about local people and events every Sunday. If you have an idea for a story, contact him at rmccrabb1@gmail.com.
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