Words & Music by Bobby Burke & Horace Gerlach
Recorded by The Mills Brothers, 1950

Two Saturdays ago on September 18th, I got a call at 6 AM informing me that my father had died suddenly earlier that morning. I adored my father. I am heartbroken. Those of you who read my column with any regularity know that I am totally smitten with both of my parents because I mention them so frequently. As you may recall, last year during Faith's poisoning spree, my father the minister went out shopping until he found me a poison ring. : My Daddy sang that song to me when I was a little girl, and today, at 43, I feel like a 5 year old again, just a little girl who wants her Daddy to sing it one more time.

September 14th was my parents' 49th wedding anniversary, and on the 18th he died. My Mama and I are trying our best to put up a brave face, but for me, that's all it is, a brave face. My Daddy is gone, and there is a black hole in me that I cannot convey to you with any words I have ever learned. My father was a minister, a man of God, a man of great faith, and I truly believe he is in heaven, but oh, I ache for him to still be here on Earth with us.

And you, my dear readers reached out to me in a way that moved both my Mother and me so deeply - so many of you sent your condolences, and good thoughts and prayers our way. Before, I thought I was just an amusing voice in the wilderness whose humanity was invisible, but found instead that you consider me a friend, and a member of your family, and I am more grateful for the love you sent my way than I can ever express.

Thank you.

Fatherhood is the central theme on GH right now, too. Carly finding her long lost father, Jason readying himself to be a Dad to Sam and Sonny's baby, Sonny trying to protect his kids from Durant, and let's not forget the rumors that Ned isn't Brooke's Dad (leaving her free to date her "Uncle" Dillon. (EWWW)

And the reason it's a big theme is because Dad's matter. Sonny had a Dad who ran off, and a step-dad who beat him, and he grew up to be a mobster. Having a good or a bad Dad can determine who you become. I was blessed and had a good Daddy and a good Mama and have turned out fairly sane. The same cannot be said for most of our Port Charles friends. John Durant is a guy who slept with a hooker and got her pregnant. He didn't know he had a daughter, but now that he does, he's decided to use her to get into Sonny's organization and send him to prison. Creepy Dad! Sonny loves Michael and Morgan, and will most likely love Lila when she is born, and Kristina once he finds out about her, but he is, after all, a criminal. Mike loves Sonny but loved gambling more and abandoned him, and Ned loved ELQ more than Brook Lynn. Stefan was a pretty good Dad to Nikolas, considering, and Luke was a good Dad to Lucky, considering, but there are no really wonderful Dad role models on GH at present. Jason is the closest, although he doesn't have any kids of his own, he actually loves the kids and respects them and tries to protect at any cost.

But all of this of course, is inconsequential and merely therapy for me trying to deal with losing a wonderful father and coming to the conclusion that Soap Dads can't compare to Wonderful Real Dads. At least not to mine.

Let's shift gears. Courtney ends up with a foster child who happens to be a hot stud and approximately her same age. GIVE ME A BREAK. Gee, can I be a foster Mom to Tom Cruise? He's the same age as me, too. Jax and Courtney's bet is over, and instead of letting them finally have sex, now we're playing "Hey, let's keep them apart a little bit longer!" one of the Soap Writer's favorite tricks when they have run out of actual plots and have to resort to keeping couples apart that viewers want together just to cover up their lack of imagination. Skye is on the run having busted out of jail, goes to Jax's apartment to hide (No, no one would EVER look for her there.) and yells out when she hears Jax come in. Wouldn't she check first to see if anyone was with him? Wouldn't Courtney recognize Skye's voice when she heard her call out? They were after all related for awhile when Courtney was married to AJ and Jason - they do KNOW one another. If I heard my cousin calling out from another room, I would know HER voice. And why is it that when Michael and Leticia come in, or Jason, or Jax, that Courtney's dog Rosie never appears or barks, but when she is out running, the dog does appear? Is the dog locked in the parking garage of her building, or in Doggy Day Care? Where DOES Rosie live? Enquiring minds want to know.

Next on the chopping block - Helena, Tracy and the silly curse. Yes, I recall Helena cursing Luke and Laura's marriage back when Helena was Liz Taylor. First, where is Felicia when Tracy and Edward are plotting against Emily and Nikolas? Should that disqualify both of them form inheriting Lila's estate? We'll never know, as Felicia is hovering around the hospital buddying up to that psycho Heather Weber. Heather is busily chatting with Skye pretending to be Luke trying to find out where Skye is for reasons we still have not been given. She's a nut job. Although in Heather's defense I will say that little Steven Lars grew up to be pretty dreamy. Although, by my calculations he should be 24, I think he was born in 1979. Could he have gone to medical school already? I dunno. He seems to be a good doctor though, so why quibble over his age. Isn't it interesting how all the babies in town got sick this week AFTER they hired an actual doctor to work at the hospital? Who would have diagnosed all these rare disorders before Steven came on staff?

Helena's curse book looks a little worn, and if she has to hire people to pretend to die to make her curse look scary, she'd better get a better partner than Tracy. Maybe Endora from Bewitched is available?

John Durant. Remember the first time he and Carly met in NY in that bar? Now think about the photo album Carly got from him as a gift. There was a woman in the photos who could have been Carly's identical twin. (Okay, it was Tamara Braun. But you know what I mean.) Wouldn't you think if you ran into someone who was a DEAD RINGER for your grandma that might have taken your breath away or made you gasp? Wouldn't you have said "Whoa, lady, you look EXACTLY like my Grandma! It's uncanny!" but no, he didn't say that, or look like he was shocked by seeing her face. Last column I was a little hard on Carly for talking to Durant when she knew his job was a threat to Sonny, but now, with the emotion of this past two weeks, I am on Carly's side. Go ahead, girlfriend. Get to know your Daddy, Carly and let Sonny rot in jail if need be.

What will happen tomorrow dear readers? Will Courtney pull a Woody Allen and marry her foster son? Will Jax get tired of being rejected for sex by Courtney and sleep with Skye? Will Luke ever come back and breathe some magic into Port Charles? Will Brook Lynn dye her hair Britney Blonde and writhe around in a sequined body stocking? Can I con some rich guy into betting me 10 million bucks I can't go 3 months without sleeping with him? Will anyone ever whip Michaels' butt for trying to blackmail his family into submission? Will this world ever make sense again now that my Daddy isn't in it?

Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, so I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.

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