John Kerry is a great dad. I know this because I have a great dad. My dad is not
perfect and neither am I, but I love him and I know he loves me. Who wants
perfection when you can have that?
That’s the feeling I get every time I see John Kerry with his daughters. Their
lives have not been idealized or airbrushed, but they have triumphed over any
difficulty through love. They tease each other, they laugh together, they are
there in the hard times to support each other. They have a genuine bond, the kind
of connection that it is just not possible to fake and that shows in every smile
or hug.
We see them mostly in public situations, but their love and pride in each other is
plain to see, even in the camera’s glare. These two smart, beautiful, decent women,
Vanessa and Alexandra Kerry, each made heartfelt, affectionate speeches about their dad at the Democratic National Convention, testifying to their love for him as a father as
well as affirming their belief in him as a principled public servant who should be president.
It is clear to any observer that his daughters have been John Kerry’s greatest
pride and joy since the day they were born. Whenever he mentions them, he is, just
for a moment, not the vital, inspired politician; he is any fond, proud father.
I honor John Kerry and the late Julia Thorne Kerry for dedicating themselves to
the happiness of their daughters even as they were navigating the difficult waters
at the end of a marriage and I honor John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry for
blending their two families and being loving parents to his daughters and her
sons.
I also honor John Kerry this Father’s Day for something I feel, though I cannot
know it for sure. It appears to me that he and his daughters have let their
relationships evolve and grow with time. In early photos (thank you, George Butler!) he appears as the strong, protective father supplying playfulness or comfort as needed. As adults, not only do his daughters repay that protectiveness and support with their own loyalty and presence, but I sense that he has allowed himself to learn from their wisdom as they learned from his.
I recognize that quality of openness and respect in my own father as my sister and
I have grown into that role with him and I honor every father who has the humility
and grace to grow into equality with his children as they grow up.
Happy Father’s Day to my dad, Alexandra and Vanessa’s dad, and dads everywhere!
Note: Thanks to Democrafty over at We Love John Kerry for permission to republish my Father’s Day post from last year. I am so grateful this Father’s Day that my own dad is successfully recovering from cancer surgery and I dedicate this post to him, with much love. Also, congratulations to Vanessa for graduating from Harvard Medical School last week! Thanks to Justin Ide at the Harvard News Office for permission to use this beautiful photo.
What a wonderful post, Kerryvisionary. Thanks.
Comment by beachmom — June 13, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
Thanks for stopping by, beachmom!! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads who are dear to you.
Comment by Kerryvisionary — June 13, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
That is a wonderful photo!
Comment by Raelynne — June 13, 2007 @ 8:09 pm
Thanks, Raelynne — I really love it, too!
Comment by Kerryvisionary — June 13, 2007 @ 8:12 pm
A beautiful post, and very true. I remember someone in ‘04 talking about how you can tell what kind of person John Kerry is by what kind of people his daughters are, and as he put it, “You could see at the convention that they’re quality people.”
It’s very cool that you managed to score an exclusive photo from Harvard, too. Nice picture.
Comment by Noisy Democrat — June 14, 2007 @ 12:45 am
Thank you, Noisy Democrat! I asked permission to use a couple of the photos from the Commencement Day slideshow and Justin was kind enough to send me this one instead, which I like even more.
Of course, I agree with the comment about judging the father by the quality of his daughters — I think the progression of mutual love and admiration shown in the photos in this post speaks volumes.
Comment by Kerryvisionary — June 14, 2007 @ 1:46 am
Oh, you beat me to it, darn! : ) There is a slide of JK himself, walking to graduation, at http://www.hno.harvard.edu/multimedia/slides.html. Look at slide show “commencement 2007″ (requires Flash Player). JK appears about two slides before that lovely photograph you’ve got here.
Comment by mbk — June 15, 2007 @ 9:06 pm
And, PS, I totally agree with kerryvisionary and noisydemocrat that JK’s duaghters, and his relationship with his daughters say everything you want to know about where the REAL family values lie.
Comment by mbk — June 15, 2007 @ 9:14 pm
Thanks so much for your comments, mbk! Yes, I was hoping originally to use the individual photos of JK and Vanessa from that slideshow, but when I asked for them, Justin sent me the one of JK and Vanessa together instead! Even though you can’t see JK’s face, I like this as part of the Father’s Day post because it illustrates my thought that JK has fully supported his daughters becoming proud and capable adults in their own right.
After I added that last photo, I realized that two of the other three photos showed JK’s face, but that his daughters’ faces were hidden. In the Commencement photo, JK’s face is not the focus, but we see Vanessa’s face, happy, revealed, as she marks her achievement and her proud father looks on.
In every picture here you can see that hugs and physical demonstrativeness are not uncommon in this family.
And that, I completely agree, is a family value I can support.
Comment by Kerryvisionary — June 16, 2007 @ 4:45 am