My Daddy

My daddy taught me a lot about life and most of the time I never even knew he was teaching me. He always had time to answer questions that I had to ask, never stopping to say they were stupid. He made sure I knew how to do the things I needed to do to have a normal childhood. Even though my parents were divorced, he was always just a message away if I needed him for any reason. My daddy will always be my first hero and teacher.

My daddy was a hands-on dad. He helped my mother take care of my older brothers and me. He changed diapers, put me down for naps, got up in the middle of the night, and he even cooked dinner to give my mom a well-deserved break. If I had a nightmare at night, I knew, I could always go to him and he would make sure there were no monsters in my room before putting me back in bed. He was always patient when explaining to me why things were the way they were. As a toddler, I followed him everywhere.

My daddy is such a good man that when he married my mother, he adopted her two oldest sons, never caring if they had a child together. He just wanted to make sure those boys always had a Father in their lives. He also learned that my mama's mom, my Grandma, always wanted a Mother's Ring, so what did he do? He went out and bought her one. He even included the birthstone of the son who was murdered in the late 1960s. My Grandma loved my daddy. Thought the world of him for what he had done for our family.

After my parents' divorce, he still was a huge presence in my life. He was a disabled Navy Veteran, and during the summer of my sixth year, he showed up every day, to take me to a Baptist church parking lot three blocks from my Grandma's house. My mother had bought me a bicycle for Christmas the year before, and he didn't want me to always ride with training wheels. He spent that summer teaching me to ride without training wheels and teaching my brothers little stunts they could do on their bigger bikes.

As we got older, when times would get tough for my mama, she'd send us to live with our daddy. He lived on twenty-seven acres and we had the full run of it. Daddy taught us gun safety while there. He taught us how to drive tractors and trucks. He even let me learn how to cook in his kitchen and ate everything I made, no matter what.

Daddy took us to church. He was the one who enrolled us in vacation bible school. Our first bibles were purchased by him. When we were baptized he was there in the front row, wiping his eyes, showing us that it's ok for a man to cry sometimes.

I can count the times on one hand that I was actually spanked by him. He preferred to discuss things with us and explain why our actions were wrong. He is a very patient man, looking back at the things we had been known to pull back then.

Daddy was always the one to take us to the movies. We saw Cheech and Chong at the drive inn. (Yes, I know, Up In Smoke, is so kid-friendly, haha haha, remember this is the 1980s). He took us to see the Gremlins, ET, all Disney that was playing, and all Star Wars as they were released. It wasn't just his love of movies either that he shared with us, but also his love of Television shows. Because of him, I still watch MASH, Gomer Pyle USMC, Twilight Zone, and several others.

My Daddy taught me what it was to love someone unconditionally. No matter what I've done, my daddy has always been there for me. He's always loved me. With patience and kindness, my father has always been the man I've loved the most in my life.

I've learned in my life that no man loves you as much as your father will in your life. With the wonderful father I have had, I feel sorry for anyone who does not have as good of a father as I do.