I wish I'll have two daughters: A story about the kind of father I want to become

Why do I want two daughters? I’ve asked myself this a hundred times since the image first formed in my head. And I still don’t have a clear answer. I don’t have a philosophical reason, but I have a vision. A feeling. A dream that plays in my mind like a film I’ve already lived. So instead of explaining it, let me show you.

Someday I’ll be sitting on the balcony of my house, on a chair with a cup of tea in my hand, watching the sun go down between the mountains, painting the sky yellow and orange. My two little daughters will come running towards me, and I will know they’re coming by the closing sound of their anklets. I’ll start looking at the gate before they even reach me, waiting for them to show up. There they come in their white little frocks, saying:

“Daddy, daddy! Look at this flower I picked from the garden. Isn’t this beautiful, dada?”

I’ll put my cup on the table beside me and then pick them up from the ground, kiss them and then let them sit on my lap, while I say:

“Yes, my princesses. It is as beautiful as both of you are. Do you know the name of this flower?”

They look at me with their little brown, curious eyes and say

“No, Daddy, we don’t know. It’s just pink in colour”

I’ll giggle a bit and say

“Oh, princess. This little leaf-like flower’s name is bougainvillaea”.

I’ll then put those flowers behind their ears and just smile, looking at them...They’ll try to pronounce the name with me but end up sayin “Boo gaan villea”, and I’ll just hug them close to me like this is my last day on earth. I’ll stand, pick them up both, and we all watch sunset while we talk and laugh a lot.

I’ll have a tear in my eye but I won’t let them show because I don’t want them to ask me about “Daddy, what’s wrong?”. I just wanna listen to their playful thoughts about the shining little stars in the sky, about the butterfly they try to sneak up on earlier.

I wanna know how my princesses look at the world, I wanna know their thoughts, I wanna know about their fantasy dreams, I wanna know about how many more petals they have in their pocket, I wanna know them.

The next morning, I’ll walk into their room. They’ll be sleeping in their beds, hugging Mr Humpy close to them. I’ll stand at the door for a minute and just look at them. They are the most adorable thing in the world right now. I’ll smile, go near them, kiss them on their foreheads and then I’ll wake them up, saying:

“Alright, my princesses, good morning, good morning. We have to go to kindergarten today. Mom is making breakfast. Hurry up”

They’ll rub their eyes while holding “Mr Humpy” and say

“No, dada, we don’t wanna go. Today is Mr Humpy wedding with Miss Flora. We have to be there”

I’ll laugh out and say

“Oh, is that so? Who else will be at the wedding? Are Mumma and dada invited?”

They’ll sit on their beds while I sit on the ground adoring them, and they say

“Yeah. Mr and Mrs Crocs, Mr Dobby, Miss Patty will be there as well. It’s an important day. Mumma and dada can come. We’ll make food for their wedding as well”

I’ll speak

“What are my two little sunshine’s planning to make? Is it going to be your favourite pink flowered pastry”

They’ll put a finger by their mouth, pretending to think and then say

“Hmm. We were thinking of chocolate brownie, but we’ll make our flowered pastry”

I’ll nod as they keep talking and then say

“Hmm. It sure is an important day today. Looks like I’ll have to lie to Mrs Sharma about you both having fever.”

“So, dada. we can attend Mr Humpy wedding today then?”

I’ll speak

“Yes, princesses. You both can. Now let’s get you dressed up neat and clean, or else we are gonna be late to the wedding. Mumma and dada have to get dressed as well. Hurry up.”

They’ll throw their blankets in excitement and come to hug me. Then say

“You are the best dada. We love you, dada”

I’ll hug them close to me and say

“I love you too. Now hurry up, go go go”

I’ll watch them run off, still holding Mr Humpy in their hands, and just smile.

After an hour, I’ll be sitting on the couch in the living room watching my usual 9 am news. All of a sudden, I hear the soft jingling of those anklets again from the hall. I’ll turn down the volume and look toward the hall, already waiting for them to come running. There they are, in the pink and red dresses that they picked up for their birthdays from the store. They even put on Mumma’s lipstick and are carrying little flower-shaped clutches, their silky black hair tied up. They come running towards me, I’ll say,

“Hey there, beautiful. Who are these two beautiful girls? They look so so gorgeous”.

They’ll shy up and speak

“Thanks, dada”

I’ll pick them up and make them sit up on the couch and ask

“Alright then, you two. What’s the plan now? How is Mr humpy doing? Is he getting dressed up?”

They’ll say while taking little pauses

“Yes. Mr humpy aaaaannd Miss Flora both are getttting dressed up. Mr Humpy is shy today, but I know he is very happy as well aaaaannndd we’re goooing to bake those cakes now. And We’re going to pick some flowers from the garden.”

“Hmm. I was shy but happy as well when I was getting married to your mom. So flowers first or flower pastry first?”

“We aaaarrre gonna make the make the cake first... and then we we we’ll go and pick up the flowers.

I’ll turn off the TV and pick them up both. As we walk to the kitchen, I’ll keep asking them more about how the wedding is going to happen. Then we’ll all start making the pastry together.

In the kitchen, I’ll lift them onto the kitchen counter and say :

“Now, should we start? So tell me what we need now? What are the ingredients? Mumma and I will provide you with the ingredients and utensils.”

They put their hands in their pockets and take out a slip of paper with items they have written down. I’ll giggle over seeing it, and they say:

“Ok, dada geeett the flour, 3 tbsp of powdered sugar annnndd loaaads of chocolate chips and Mumma, please get 2 sheets of puff pastry, half a bowl of ricotta cheese and an egg.

They both giggle and pretend to whisper, “We need some chocolate chips, but we ask dada to bring more so that we can eat it hehe”. I can hear them, but I just laugh it off and say

“Alright mam. Ingredients are coming your way. Just give us a minute”

Then we drop a bowl with cheese, sugar and Choco chips in it by their side for them to mix it off. I say

“Alright mam. Here are your ingredients. Please mix this well and good; till then your Mumma and dada will cut out flower petals and flower bases with a wine glass from puff pastry sheets”

While cutting out the petals and bases, we keep looking at the girls as they talk, giggle, spill cheese over themselves while mixing, and sneakily put their hands into the bowl to steal a chocolate chip or two.

Then we put some flour on the rim of the wine glass, place six petal-shaped pastry rounds around it, and top them with a flower base.

I then say, “All right, ma’am. Is our mixture ready to be turned into the most magnificent dessert of all time?”

They say, “Yes. It is ready, dada, and we promise. We didn’t eat any Choco chips from it”

I laugh and say, “Yeah. I know. You sure didn’t. Now let’s arrange these pastries and put them to get baked”

We then put them on a baking sheet and ask our girls to fill the centre of each flower-shaped pastry. They carefully fill each one. As they keep filling, I keep brushing the edges with the beaten egg.

I say, “How is it looking, girls? Are our pastries looking good?”

They say, “Dada... don’t disturb us now. We wanna make this good, and if not, Miss Flora will be sad”

I giggle and say, “Alright, you two. I’ll stay quiet for now. Let’s make this the best”

We then put them to get baked in the oven for 20 mins. Once baked, I take them out and say, “Woahhh, do YOU see that? They are just golden brown. They look good”

They say, “Yes, dada. We helped; that’s why, and Mumma helped us as well”

I say, “Of course, of course.. You both did wonderfully, and Mumma is always wonderful. Never a doubt in my mind about it. Now let’s dust our pastries with powdered sugar, and we’re done, girls”

They say, “Dada dada! We’ll do it. We love it.”

I laugh and say, “Alright, alright go ahead.”

After they both got done with sprinkling. I say, “Alright, girls. Now we just let it cool off a bit, and in the meanwhile, you both go and get those flowers from the garden. GO go go”

They say “YEAHH daaadaa anddd then we’ll put one flower each on pastries. Miss Flora and Mr Humpy will be very happy with this.”

I watch them as they go laughing and giggling through the hall.

After a while, they come back. Once again, I recognise them by the soothing sound of their anklets. They now have flowers of all colours tucked into their pockets and piled into the little tray they took with them. They come running towards Mumma and say, “ Mumma mumma looook looook at the flowers that we brought. There are so many.”

Then they take out a pink rose from the bunch, give it to their mom and say, “Mumma thank you for your help. Here we brought this for you. We loveeee you, mom.” and then they come to me, hand me the hibiscus and say, “Dadda, thank you. we wee brought this for you. We lovee you, dad”.

We both take those flowers, hug them and then I lift them onto the kitchen counter again. I say, “Alright, girls. Now it’s time to decorate our pastries! I’ll let you both decorate it with your favourite flowers. Your mumma and I will watch you from here. Good luck”. They both then get instantly invested in decorating it, and we just keep watching them, how they argue over which flower to put on which one and how they are assigning names to the pastries.

After they’re done, they come running to us and say, “Dadda and mumma come here. faassst fasst.”

I say, “Alright. Alright, we are coming”

They then both give us a pastry to eat first, and I say, “But these are for weddings. We should take these there first.”

They say, “Yeah daddaa, we know, but we need only three for the wedding. These are for you both for helping us and for being our Mom and Dad.”

They take a pastry each in their little hands and hold them up to our mouths. We had tears in our eyes, but we just pulled them close to our chests so they couldn’t see them. I definitely teared up and just whispered to myself, saying, “I love you three for all that you are, all that you have been and all you’re yet to be.”