I strive, everyday, to be more like my father. I strive to have what he has, to be respected as he is respected, and to know what he knows. My father loves my step-mother (whom I have known as "mom" since age 2). I see it in the way he talks to her, in the way that he kisses her, and in the way that he talks to me about her. My father is a VERY respected man. I have the luxury of working for the same company that he does. I hear his name constantly ringing from every corner of this company. They talk about how he knows his stuff, and about how he always gets the job done, and about how if you don't have anywhere else to turn to, ask him… because chances are he can help you, or knows who can. My father volunteers his time every saturday at an Old Folks home… just because. My father is respected by my sister. He balances the "friend" and "father" statuses perfectly… being strict when it is needed, being concerned when it is needed, and telling an off-color joke when it is needed. My father is someone I come to when I have a problem. My father is someone I can talk to for hours and not get bored. My father is someone who I enjoy spending my spare time with. My father is a carpenter, and a computer programmer, and a science project builder. My father is a cook, and a cleaner, and a counsellor. My father is the man who counseled me after finding that I was knee deep in drugs and alcohol in a barn 40 miles from our home where I was caught (kinda) by the police and the owners of that barn and, instead of punishing me, says, "I think you've learned your lesson" because he knows I have. My father is the man that took me out drinking for my 21st birthday. My father is the only person who helps me EVERY time I move, without me having to ask. My friends like my father. My girlfriends like my father. My girlfriends' parents like my father. My father has ambition, and motivation, and drive.
My father is everything I want to be. That is not to say I want to be EXACTLY like him or that I want to take the same path he has taken to get to where he is… but that he displays those traits and strengths that I sometimes only wish I could. There are very few men that I have met that can claim to be even half the man that my father is. I have the utmost respect and admiration for him.
Even the concept that he could possibly treat ANYONE the way my mother claims he treated her during their divorce and the months prior to it is UNACCEPTABLE. I am not saying those things didn't happen. And I am not saying that her pain is not real or that her stories are not true. I am saying that I REFUSE to accept them.
