He’s not just funny, he is hilarious. He’s not just smart, he is a genius. He didn’t just give me my life, he continues to save it. He isn’t just my best friend, he’s my dad.
Although I pride myself on being anything but stereotypical, I cannot fight the fact that I am what some would call a “daddy’s girl." However, I don’t say “daddy,” and pretty sure my dad would be horrified if I did. It’s not how we roll, my dad and me. We don’t say “daddy” and we don’t fit stereotypes. My dad is anything but typical, he is a complete lunatic. Why is he crazy? My dad is absolutely insane to do all the work he does, coach every sports team my brothers and I played growing up, attend all my other extracurricular activities, answer every one of my late phone calls and still find it within himself to give me an unconditional kind of love.
My dad is the kind of guy to pick you up when you’re down no matter what. He will point you in the right direction and send you on your way with a pep talk that makes think you can take on the world with one arm behind your back. I haven’t just experienced this phenomenon of his, but I rely on it. I live a life filled with adventure and challenges that I don’t hesitate to take on. I know that I can count on my dad to pick me back up if I fall, just like he can count on me not making the same mistake twice. This has taught me not to fear failure and the beauty in perspective. My dad stresses the importance of looking at the grand scheme of things. So instead of dwelling on a mistake that most likely will not matter in the near future, regardless of how big it seems, I learned to rally. To take pride in picking myself up even when I knew he would for me if I needed him to.
That is the thing about my dad, he has always been exactly what I needed. I’m sure there was a time that I wanted him to be the parent with no rules, but that wasn’t what was best for me. He was never the parent who suffocated me in the rules and restraints that make disappointment inevitable. He always set me up to succeed, more confident in my ability than I ever was. Even though my adolescence seemed to fly by, he found a way to slowly introduce life to me. I grew up without worry and without fear because I knew that it wasn’t just me against the world, it was me and my dad.
