Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my fathers birthday, he would have been 64 years old. He passed away when I was 19 from lung cancer.

I always see stuff praising single mothers but never really see stuff about single fathers. My dad wasn't an executive that could afford child care, he was blue collar but he made sure we had everything we needed, food shelter, clothes and guidance. He started working for AT&T right out of highschool and stayed with them as a lineman until he passed at age 49. My mother left us when I was 1 1/2, she was a heroin addict and chose the life of the streets leaving my father to raise me and my sister but he would still take us to visit her in jail when she would get locked up, he never denied her access to us over the years when she would pop up from time to time. He never spoke bad about her to us either.

I defiantly didn't make life easy for him in my teenage years but every time I would end up in jail he would be there every Sunday to visit me, he was a to the letter kind of guy, take responsibility for your actions but even when I was messing up he still loved me and he made sure I knew it.

The irony in all of it is that I ended up by myself raising my 2 kids for a few years, if it wasn't for the example he set for me I don't know if I could have done it.

So here is to the greatest man I ever knew, your sacrifice and patience help me become who I am today. I love you and miss you, happy birthday dad.