DADS

Sometime I get frustrated when I hear women talk badly about men.  Particularly fathers, dads, whatever you wish to call them. These are men who step up their game every single day for their loved ones.

My friend Sharon has a brother, Teddy, who was married at a very young age. He and his wife had two children, a daughter and a son. The parents divorced as a result of mom's alcohol addiction. Ted stepped up and raised his two children. Today his daughter is an RN with a Master's degree. Ted remarried and he cares for his son Theo who suffers from Schizophrenia. When the phamily searched for help for him, they went to Fort Logan Hospital. At the meeting the doctors and other staff were shocked when in marched 34 members of their phamily all willing to pitch in and do whatever was necessary to help Theo. They were told by the staff that they had never seen such support for a patient. That is just one example.

Mr. Mom is an old movie from the 1980's but I bet if you look arouns, you will see a "Mister Mom" today. There are men who raise their children while their wives earn the bread and butter.  You have to tip your hat to these dads too. They do what they have to do to make their phamily dynamics work.

There are poems written about dad's just like mom's. If you had a good dad, you were blessed. If you were not as fortunate and you became a good parent yourself, you did something incredibly amazing. I had a friend from work, Dee. Her mom was suffering from terrible mental illness. Her dad split the scene. They were raised in the inner city of Chicago. Her mom left for weeks at a time. Dee was the oldest of four children, probably 9 when this change occurred in her life. She said an elderly neighbor bought enough bread and milk and peanut butter to feed them for two weeks. when she grew up she was angry. She said she looked into a mirror one day and realized she wanted to break the cycle she was pulled into. She married and had a wonderful phamily. She'd be the phamily mom you would call in an emergency! I tell you about Dee because we all have a story to write. Her story ended happily ever after because she changed her circumstances and did what she felt was right for her.

My own father would tell me wonderful stories about baseball and it's players. One of his favorite players was Harmon Killebrew. I love this quote I found attributed to Harmon Killebrew.  It says it all in raising boys.

Jim Valvano was an American basketball player, coach and broadcaster.

Good fathers are excellent men. I just like to remind people that sometime people are put into situations that they have to make the best of. I could tell you stories all night long about good men who raised good kids. who loved their wives and did the very best they could. Please remember to honor them along with all the great women who step up every single day to raise kids.

A little dad humor.