My Father, My Mentor

My dad called me about 20 minutes ago, with an unexpected apology. He and my mom came over to my apartment last night and we cooked out on the grill, but he's pretty stressed out lately so wasn't exactly pleasant to be around. I of course ignored it, as he has plenty on his mind right now but he felt really bad about his behavior. When I told him I understood, he said he has no right to act as if he's the only one stressed out. "Who isn't?!"

He's the most put together man I know. No matter what is going on in his life, and how many tasks he adds up, he always manages to put life into perspective and leave the day with the mentality that all of that "stuff" is mundane. The office, the house, the new business venture...at the end of the day it doesn't matter. He feels blessed for his health, for his loving wife, and his two children. He says it's THAT he wakes up for every morning.

He's such a good man. I wish more people could think like him. There are so many people out there that have a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad breakup, or a bad wrought of food poisoning, whatever the case may be, and they're forever pissed off at the world for dealing them a bad hand. But we all have our bad days, our bad weeks, our bad breakups, and we all get sick. What gives one person the right to be angry at the world over another? And what gives some people the ability to hold their head high and say "I'm blessed" when things get rough, when others are not so capable?

My dad dealt with poverty, alcoholism, teenage parenthood, and many other blows throughout his lifetime. But he still manages to wake up every morning with a smile and know that things could always be worse and he's a pretty blessed man.

I respect him more than he'll ever know.