My Best Friend...
...is by far my father. since sunday is daddy's day, this entry is for him.
there is a well-known saying that says, 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.' when looking at my dad and me, i have often said, 'this apple scraped the bark on the way down.' as a kid, i was always told that i was my dad's son because of the way i looked from half way down my nose up to the top of my head. i was fortunate enough to inherit his long eyelashes. the same eyelashes that a very near and dear aunt of ours used to call 'feather-dusters.' as i mature and climb up the 'ladder of age,' people tell me that i look more and more like my dad in my entire face, everyday. and thank god. i hope that i look half as good at 52 as my dad does. i have actually been told by friends that 'hey man. your dad is hot.' yeah, great. thanks for sharing.
my parents divorced when i was 6, but my father made sure that he spoke to me everyday. i saw him every weekend and he was at every school function, every cub scout meeting, every little league game, track meet and parent-teacher meeting. he would even stop by for a visit out of the blue just to check in and see how i was doing.
now don't get me wrong, we had our rough patch just like every parent does with their child. mine was when i was much younger. as a young kid, my dad was always stern about me getting good grades, acting proper and having the best manners, especially when around adults. to a little kid, that could get very boring and leaves room for some rebellion. i remember 2 specific events from my childhood. one was when my dad made me so mad (over what, who remembers?) that i came up with a rhyme which i thought was the most clever thing ever. i looked at him and said, 'stick it up your ass with suck-a-tash.' i don't remember much after the last word left my lips. and the other time was when my dad made me so mad (over what, again, who knows?) and i made this big grandstand production that i was leaving home and never coming back. i charged into my room and began packing my suitcase. there was not a coloring book or crayon to be found. i had packed it all and i was gone. this was a very short period of time in my life when my dad wasn't cool.
for a large part of my life, and even still, i have thought that my dad was cool. as i said before, he always taught me how to show respect to other people, how to be on my best behavior, how to treat others and how to make myself come off the best in crappy situations. he also taught me compassion and at the same time to have a voice in order to make sure that my opinions, beliefs and feelings were heard, shared and acknowledged. he always taught me to look at the realistic sides of situations before flying off the handle and over-reacting. step back and think about how you can get the positive out of this situation. he always supported my decisions because he knew they were what i wanted and believed in. he supported me when i switched from pre-med in college to go into communications because i enjoyed flipping through magazines and looking at the pictures and colors. even though, deep down he still wanted me to become a vet and set him up in a beach house somewhere along the coast, :)
my dad also introduced me to broadway at the ripe age of 5. he took me to see 'annie' when it premiered on b'way over 20 years ago. and i have been hooked ever since. thanks to my dad, i have been lucky enough to see some of the greatest b'way legends grace the stage in roles which have made b'way history. bebe neuwirth, glenn close, betty buckley, carol channing, bea arthur, julie andrews. even when he had an extra ticket to the tony awards 3 years ago, it was me who he asked to accompany him as opposed to bringing along a date. we could talk about b'way, music, movies, books or entertainment for hours on end.
that's another great thing about my dad. we always have something to talk about and share with one another. whether we spoke the day before or the week before, we end up chatting for hours without silence. just like talking to a very close friend.
so, thank you dad. thank you for all you have exposed me to and provided me with in my 28 years of life. i can only hope that i become half the man you are with the tons of people who love, care and respect you. thank you for being my best friend, my confidant and my dad. i love you tons.
there is a well-known saying that says, 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.' when looking at my dad and me, i have often said, 'this apple scraped the bark on the way down.' as a kid, i was always told that i was my dad's son because of the way i looked from half way down my nose up to the top of my head. i was fortunate enough to inherit his long eyelashes. the same eyelashes that a very near and dear aunt of ours used to call 'feather-dusters.' as i mature and climb up the 'ladder of age,' people tell me that i look more and more like my dad in my entire face, everyday. and thank god. i hope that i look half as good at 52 as my dad does. i have actually been told by friends that 'hey man. your dad is hot.' yeah, great. thanks for sharing.
my parents divorced when i was 6, but my father made sure that he spoke to me everyday. i saw him every weekend and he was at every school function, every cub scout meeting, every little league game, track meet and parent-teacher meeting. he would even stop by for a visit out of the blue just to check in and see how i was doing.
now don't get me wrong, we had our rough patch just like every parent does with their child. mine was when i was much younger. as a young kid, my dad was always stern about me getting good grades, acting proper and having the best manners, especially when around adults. to a little kid, that could get very boring and leaves room for some rebellion. i remember 2 specific events from my childhood. one was when my dad made me so mad (over what, who remembers?) that i came up with a rhyme which i thought was the most clever thing ever. i looked at him and said, 'stick it up your ass with suck-a-tash.' i don't remember much after the last word left my lips. and the other time was when my dad made me so mad (over what, again, who knows?) and i made this big grandstand production that i was leaving home and never coming back. i charged into my room and began packing my suitcase. there was not a coloring book or crayon to be found. i had packed it all and i was gone. this was a very short period of time in my life when my dad wasn't cool.
for a large part of my life, and even still, i have thought that my dad was cool. as i said before, he always taught me how to show respect to other people, how to be on my best behavior, how to treat others and how to make myself come off the best in crappy situations. he also taught me compassion and at the same time to have a voice in order to make sure that my opinions, beliefs and feelings were heard, shared and acknowledged. he always taught me to look at the realistic sides of situations before flying off the handle and over-reacting. step back and think about how you can get the positive out of this situation. he always supported my decisions because he knew they were what i wanted and believed in. he supported me when i switched from pre-med in college to go into communications because i enjoyed flipping through magazines and looking at the pictures and colors. even though, deep down he still wanted me to become a vet and set him up in a beach house somewhere along the coast, :)
my dad also introduced me to broadway at the ripe age of 5. he took me to see 'annie' when it premiered on b'way over 20 years ago. and i have been hooked ever since. thanks to my dad, i have been lucky enough to see some of the greatest b'way legends grace the stage in roles which have made b'way history. bebe neuwirth, glenn close, betty buckley, carol channing, bea arthur, julie andrews. even when he had an extra ticket to the tony awards 3 years ago, it was me who he asked to accompany him as opposed to bringing along a date. we could talk about b'way, music, movies, books or entertainment for hours on end.
that's another great thing about my dad. we always have something to talk about and share with one another. whether we spoke the day before or the week before, we end up chatting for hours without silence. just like talking to a very close friend.
so, thank you dad. thank you for all you have exposed me to and provided me with in my 28 years of life. i can only hope that i become half the man you are with the tons of people who love, care and respect you. thank you for being my best friend, my confidant and my dad. i love you tons.
posted by notfornothin at Friday, June 17, 2005
1 Comments:
I hope you shared this blog post with your day. It was lovely!
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