Like Father like Daughter

On the way to New York City, I watched the movie, “How to Train Your Dragon.” I highly recommend it. It is a story about a boy who desperately wants to be like his father, in this case, a warrior Viking, and cannot kill a dragon. Despite this, he creates a devise to trap one and actually does trap the most feared dragon in all the land. However, when he tries to kill it he cannot and so, he discovers how to train it. He finds that everything he believed he wanted to be is false and in finding himself, he also gains the respect of his father in his own way. I’ll not spoil the details more than that but you should see it. Appropriately, I remember being a little girl, and my own father was a surgeon. He would go to the hospital and see patients. He would deliver babies and everywhere we went in our small town, be it school, church or shopping, we never left without seeing someone he knew. I was very proud to be his daughter, and when the time came to go to school and learn stuff, I was pretty disappointed to discover that I really did not do well in math and science, and further, would get very sick and light-headed at the sight of blood. Despite this, I pursued other things and as all children do, sought his unwavering approval.

The year my father died, I was pregnant with James Edward, and although I had started the studio, I had not gained the success in my photography that I enjoy today. I had not been featured on television nor had I created the Art and Medicine projects for breast cancer and childhood cancers. I had pretty much just begun, and he never saw these things with me.

Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital named a Labor and Delivery room after me last week. I cut blue and pink ribbons draping over a doorway to the largest room on the floor. They handed me surgical scissors just like the ones my Daddy had used to cut umbilical cords with. It was a joyous moment, and a very enlightening one as well. I had finally “made it” in my own mind. The approval of those at that hospital of my work as an artist to name something after me that after I die will still be named after me was a very big deal. Bigger still the fact that I have made it my own life’s work to create and capture newborns and preg- nant women, and I was being honored in such a way that was poignant and touching and meant a lot to me. I was reminded of two things. How I had tried to gain my daddy’s approval all those years, and after making the choice to do what I love and not what I could do to make the most money had paid off. I had found a way to do almost the same thing. Who I am is legitimate and similar to him except I did not have to get into medical school or see blood (ick) or have to pay malpractice insurance (I’m laughing)! Many people who have interviewed me over the years have drawn similarities to my choices of my subjects in my work and to the fact that my father was an OBGYN. I saw the similarities mostly as coincidental, but now, I am not so sure.... it pays to turn 40! Lot’s of reflection..... blah blah blah..... It is cool though, I must admit and yes, of course Daddy had influence. What parent cannot have influence on their children?

The second, and probably most telling, was while I was at the reception, I began referencing a special plaque that hangs in the lobby at Carolina Medical Center in Monroe, North Carolina. There, in the small hallway, is a tribute to a man who gave his entire life to delivering babies in Union County. It is small, and unless you are passing down that hall, you would never even know it is there. It was not given until after he died and only his chil- dren could attend the ceremony. Want to guess who was honored on that plaque? Yep, my Daddy.

It goes without saying that I know he’s proud of me, and while I am still here, I wanted to let you know how blessed I am to be honored by such a lovely hospital and how proud I am of a sweet little OBGYN now looking down on me from heaven.

Take Care of You!