the best man who ever lived

Marlene Dietrich once said, " a king, realizing his incompetence, can either delegate or abdicate his duties. A father can do neither. If only his daughters could see the paradox... They would understand the dilemma." In so many ways my father has always been my rock. For outsiders, looking in at our messed up relationship, its fair to say we don't seem close at all.

The cliche story, about the scared boy ditching out on his pregnant girl friend is the furthest thing from true in our case. When I was 12 my parents divorced, and my mother chose a horrible path to live on, my dad, embraced the challenge, and did his best with cards he was dealt. Gaining custody of my younger sister and I was his main focus, and even with everything my mother put him through he still rose to the occasion, never faltering once.

I noticed somedays it was really hard for my dad to "chin up," but he would always try his best. I'm also aware that I never made it easy on him, I'd say hateful things to him, yell at him, and treat him like dirt, but dad has always been there for me. I would get mad because he pushed me to excel in sports and school and every other thing he wanted me to get involved with. My dad and I would be fighting one minute, and the next he'd be telling me that I was beautiful and crying about my first prom, or getting a smile the day I received my license, or stood tall as my biggest fan at my first varsity game in soccer, basketball, and volley ball. Sometimes I would feel mad because he pushed me in a way my mom never pushed my older sisters, but it was worth it for me.

My dad is an amazing person, and it took me growing older and going away to realize that he's my number one. It took seeing him cry at my graduation, when my mom was too high to even be there at all, it took him letting me go when it was time for me to leave to college for me to understand that no matter how much he may drive me insane, or fight with me, he is still that super man I used to think he was when I was little. But now its not so much super man, as it is "good old dad."