REAL MAN...my father
I’m not going to write about how great my father is. I’m not going to tell you he is my hero nor role model. I’m going to share with you significant points in my life which made me a better man and how I want to give up everything to be a stay-at-home father and watch my children one day grow into beautiful human beings.
My father had a rough childhood. Youngest of three brothers and a sister, he had no male role model with no help from his drunkin’ mother. Trouble in school, little friends, and no guidance for his future. At the age of 17, he got his girlfriend pregnant and that forever changed the man he soon was to become.
A year from Manhood, the military was calling his name. The Army became his “parents” and the troops became his brother’s and sister’s. Servicing his country gave him the tools to become a Real Man. Loyalty, integrity, honor, and trust became ingrained in my father as he set out to be the best he could be. Yet, he also grew to be independent and have freedom, much more than the cluttered house hold from he was living; and overall, it gave him the insight to be a better father taken the experiences he had as a child and made them better. If I can say anything about my father, other than the values he learned, he has instilled in me his work ethic, to always have a plan for the future, and "be the best YOU can be."
On Father's Day a lot of you may write and share how your father was putting food on the table, he was putting a comfortable house over your head, and having more stereotypical father duties. My father was doing all that, plus he was showing how hard you have to work in order to be successful in life, the workplace and at home.
My father is brilliant. He was and still is dedicated to any work-related job - he gets it done right. Somehow, somewhere, because of his past, he wanted to be the best father, or better than his father was. He made time for me, a lot of time. Over the years I got the opportunity to see him at his finest; my father was behind the playground fence watching my first one-on-one match during lunchtime, or getting all the kids at recess to chase him around the playground, or on cold days when school was finished he'd be there to pick me up and put my hands in between his armpits to keep them warm. He would show me, from time to time, how to fix a car, an Austin Healy to be exact, like Tim Allen on Home Improvement. When we moved to the desert after he retired from the Army he stepped up to the plate taking over the coaching position when we had no basketball team - it was because of his leadership skills that I blossomed into a fine young athlete. He was there for my first no-hitter in little league cheering from the stands. He was there when I got my first triple/double during 4th grade youth basketball. His motivational talks before the game, after, and in the off-season inspired me to preserver even harder.
Aside from sports, his true colors shined after my brain aneurysm. Talk about work ethic, I was just seeing the beginning stages of what work ethic really was. I had my father by my side every square inch because I had one goal in mind - playing sports again! He was there when I was getting discharged from physical therapy because the insurance said I was done after 7 months; he was there right after signing me up to the gym to continue rehabbing my body, mind and soul so I could obtain my goal.
Through adversity, change, the hardship in the adolescent period of my life my father's advice and lessons he taught me, now I use as tools to help me grow to be a better person. Today, he isn't so much a part of my life. Ever since my parents split he has remained distant. However, I completely understand and appreciate the time we did have together. We still call each other every now and then, text status updates on the Cowboy's during football season, or any business related inquiry I may have. I know, deep down, that he loves me and that is all that matters. He wasn’t always the best father, but understanding his background helped me appreciate his path in life a little bit more.
