Taking Care of your Daddy.

In the last week me and Daddy took a roadtrip to see his family, and coming back, I noticed a few things that I needed to get around to doing with his car.

This is interesting for a few reasons. I am not a car-minded person, as might be shown with my car, and how little attention I pay to it. But Daddy's car? I'm all up on how that car runs. I see every little indicator, I know exactly what needs doing, I have even been seen under the hood, replacing fuels and checking things.

And I only realised recently how differently I treat my car and Daddy's car. I will learn things and do things that I never would have bothered to do for my car. I keep fluids topped up, check tyre pressures. All the things you're supposed to check on your car, I do for Daddy's car.

When I think about it, it's a very obvious analogy to my relationship with my Daddy. So often, I won't do something unless I can make it in service to my Daddy. Chores? I'll do them in service to my Daddy, but never in service to myself. Taking care of myself is couched in terms of how it makes my Daddy's life better. And of course, I'm more attentive to my Daddy's car because keeping his car running is an essential part of making sure his life is running well.

I'm sure I'm being more than a little selfish in this regard. But in a way it kindof works. I take care of my Daddy's needs, and in return he makes sure my needs are being met. We can be each other's guardians, make sure that each of us have what we need, where we'd often ignore the important bits if we were left to ourselves. We can give each other permission to break rules, to be slack if we have to, to take breaks, or to push ourselves hard when we have to. Daddy does it by ordering me around, I do it by making sure my Daddy has my fullest support when he needs it, and has my advice at all times.

Sometimes I wonder if I need my Daddy more than he needs me. Certainly, I seem to have gained a lot more in terms to self-power than he has. Or perhaps we need each other just as much, in just enough.