I saw a father and tweener-daughter at WalMart today.  No, the image above is from Pixabay because my dearest widower keeps telling me to stop taking photos of strangers.  Back to WalMart: The daughter was pulling her dad in slow circles as they waited for the mom to get her glasses at the optometrist.  They looked a bit silly but the girl was obviously bored. They weren’t self-conscious, just biding time.  There was no abuse.

I walked out of WalMart smiling.  I’ve seen fathers carrying their young daughters into schools, and twice there were confirmed allegations of child sexual abuse.  The carrying was so wrong.  There’s also the abuse that no one sees.  Today, I saw a loving father with his daughter.  They might not remember that silly dance at the optometrist, but it’s engraved in my mind.  I’m always amazed at examples of fatherly love.  My radar usually does an instinctive check for any hint of inappropriate touching.  Today, I simply enjoyed what I saw.  It didn’t trigger any bad memories, no jealousy, no calls to DSS.  Just joy.