First and foremost, a belated Happy Father’s Day to every single man who stepped up to the plate of being a dad and hit that shit out the motherfucking ballpark. Whether you’re a biological father, an adopted one or an uncle/brother/teacher or best friend filling in – THANK YOU.
I wanted to write a Father’s Day post over the weekend, but realized I didn’t really have any experience on the subject matter lol. However, I will say that because I don’t have a father-figure in my life, I know just how important it is to have one and appreciate you all even more.
I want to stray away from the usual woe is me sob story (but if that’s what you want, here’s a good one that hits close to home), so to honor father’s day here’s some of my favorite stories from my friends who are blessed to have awesome men in their lives! There’s a few, and a tad long but a pleasure to read.
“Growing up as an only child, there was really no one to play with me. my mom worked nights as a nurse so it was always just my dad and i. honestly between the ages of I guess my earliest memory of like 4 to 10 my dad was my best friend. A kid in a 35 year old man’s body. Sometimes I would come up with these weird board games and he would stop what he was doing and play with me, no matter how dorky or weird it was, even if the game didn’t make sense, he would play along. He was silly with me!
My dad was and really still is my buddy. Its just that now we don’t play games. we watch baseball games, talk about weird shit we see homeless people do, gossip about my moms family, or talk about life in general. Wow, writing this kinda made me realize a lot …”~Dre
“My favorite memory of my dad had to have been the night of my cotillion. 18th birthday. He had just spent 20 racks on my party, and another 10 on a down payment on my very first car. It was time for the father daughter dance and as we’re dancing he asks me one thing..Are you happy? I say yes. He kisses me on the forehead and says, “Good.” My dad has always done above and beyond for me. Always. His biggest concern was MY happiness. He taught me selflessness. The meaning of loving unconditionally. I’ve fucked up a lot in my life… A LOT. and here he is, still loving me. Still supported me 100%. I’m blessed… and now i’m crying.”~Rach
“Growing up, my childhood was challenging to say the least. My mother has been incarcerated in prison ever since my teenage years and my father has been in and out of prison ever since I can remember. Luckily, I had an uncle who cared enough to take me in. Naturally, he lacked certain parental skills like nurturing and the ability to understand and communicate to a young adolescent. However, he did teach me discipline with his military background, a strong work ethic and most importantly, the desire to help people in need whenever possible. My uncle is my source of inspiration, hero, father figure, and homie all rolled into one.”~Derrick
“I was in pre-school. It was the day of class photos and I was so excited to wear the brand new pink dress, tights, and shoes my parents bought me. Well, the following morning, I woke up and my mom, who usually did my hair everyday, was SICK. Like, couldn’t get out of bed sick. Guess who came to the rescue? My dad. lol Not wanting to wake my mom, he manned up and to the best of his ability, fixed my hair. It didn’t feel right to me so I think I tried to ask him if I could look at a mirror and he said, “you look pretty, don’t worry!” So I went to school, took my picture, and went home. I got my photos like a month later. Low and behold, it was the WORST! He had tried to put it up in a pony tail. I think what happened was that he was too scared he would hurt me if he tugged on my hair too hard (little did he know, my mom pulled on my hair harder than a mofo) so it was the loosest pony tail ever in life. He does any and everything for us and that’s how I know how much my dad loves our family so much.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from him…too many to name but in a nutshell: If I put my mind to anything, I can achieve it; Family will always be there to love and support me 150% (hasn’t failed me); Never give up hope and faith; and always, ALWAYS pray.”~Ren
Please feel free to add a favorite story of your own, I’d love to read it!
