Happy Paternal Unit Day

Being called father by any other name is just as great

Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash

As a new paternal unit, I pondered what I wanted to be called by our children.

For some reason, I wanted them to call me Papa.

I’m not sure why. Maybe because that's what their mother had always called her paternal unit in Russia where she was born and raised.

Papa.

I liked the sound of it.

Like millions of families, our girls heard a mixture of two languages in their first few years. But the one constant noun was, Papa.

“Where’s Papa?”

“Papas’ home.”

“Papa’s going to class.”

“Go tell Papa we’re ready to eat.”

“Papa’s going to read you a story.”

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

I very much loved being called Papa by our first daughter.

Again, I’m not sure why I loved this word.

In my little nook of the world, “dad” was the norm. Maybe I just wanted to be different.