The Godfather: Part II

No I'm not talking about Don Vito Carleone and the Family from the movies here, I'm talking about me, yea me "The Godfather". Sometime back, in the 80s, my Aunt & Uncle asked me to be the Godfather of their newborn baby Hannah, who would already by default be my cousin. What did I know about being someones Godfather at the age of 18? Heck I wasn't even sure what I was going to do for the rest of my life let alone think about guiding someone else along if they needed. But after some thought I agreed to the "responsibility" but only recently have i really come to define and understand what that responsibility was.


Now I'm not saying I haven't been there for Hannah for the birthdays, christmas's, the first communion and such but I really didn't think I had done much more than a normal relative would have. This got me to thinking, what have i really provided for Hannah as her Godparent? World class knowledge, super human abilities, diamonds, silver, gold or other riches? No, i haven't given her any of those things but those weren't the things intended to be gained from a god-father/god-daughter relationship. Instead, Hannah and I have a great friendship which is becoming more enjoyable to me as she matures. I like to believe that she trusts me and would feel comfortable coming to me for advice, help or just to talk to.


After the years of her growing up we have reached the time where she is becoming an adult and we are able to spend short periods of time together simply going to a movie, shopping, talking about her running and my biking, or taking time off work to have lunch. I now realize that the responsibility of being a Godfather was "just to be there" and since Hannah still says "love ya" to me in front of anyone anywhere tells me that i must have done that.


Hannah is an excellent athelete and runs hurdles for the Butler Track Team. During the early spring when practice starts I incorperate the school grounds into my training rides simply to stop by the track, say hi and on occasion get a chance to see her compete. I'm looking forward to seeing her run and compete at the collegic level for the next few years. She is truely a wonderful person and I actually gained much more than she did, by accepting the invitation to be her Godfather.

Look out as Hannah sails over these hurdles and many more in the future.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

The Godfather