Father's Day, certainly, is a hallmark holiday, but if you were raised by your father, it is so much more. I am quite certain my father did not anticipate raising a young girl solo, but when my mother left the scene, he had no choice. I think of the film Kramer vs. Kramer where the father had no idea what it meant to raise his child, until his wife was out of the picture, but-what matters in the end-was he stepped up to the plate, and he did it well.
So it was with my Dad. He valued me as a person and made me feel like I mattered-my intelligence, my dreams; he even made me feel like I was beautiful, when I certainly was just a chubby little girl with glasses. When a parent perceives you as great, you absorb that message, and my Dad was king of positive messages. He taught me how to love and to love well; how to respect other people; what loving kindness means.
He has been gone for so long; he passed away when I was sixteen, and this is sad. He would have loved to have met my children and granddaughter, and he really would have loved to discover that I found a husband-Ira-who is a mensch in much the same way he was. Not everything has been so good in my life; there have been ups and downs. But today, Dad's Day, I honor the terrific dad who raised me and the WONDERFUL husband I married. In this way, I hit the jackpot!
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