My mom was a partyer to say the least. She was the first one at a party and the last one to leave. She had a ton of friends and seemed to spend every free minute she had in their company. My dad on the other hand, has always been a home-body. Every now and then he would go out with my mom, but he made sure he was home in time to tuck my sisters and I in bed at night. He worked very hard to make sure that his wife and 3 kids had everything they needed, and yes that meant that a few Christmases and Birthdays went on without him, but he always had a way of making it up to us.
Shortly after my grandma on my mom's side, Macaw, passed away my parents split up, and my dad moved to a different state 2 hours away, and left us with our mom. He told us that he wanted us to live with him, but he knew our mom needed us to be with her. So he left with seriously only his clothes and an old couch that we kept in the basement. Everything else in the house that was rightfully half his, he left so that my sisters and I wouldn't have to do without them. For a year he called us every morning before we left for school and again every night to wish us sweet dreams before we went to bed. He picked us up every Wednesday and took us out to dinner, and we spent every other weekend with him.
After a year of my parents being separated the living conditions at my mom's house drastically changed. By this time my mom had moved a man that was 14 years younger then her into our house. He beat my mom, cooked and sold drugs out of our house, killed my older sister Tara's pet iguana, and would verbally abuse Tara on a regular basis. While all this was happening all my mom would do was make excuses for him.
I remember it so clearly... on August 2nd, 2000 my dad picked us up like and took us to this small antique shop out by the old train tracks . He sat down with us at a picnic table and told us that he was going to take us from our mom. That he can't stand for us to live in that house for one more day, and that he is having a police officer deliver papers to her for them to go to court for custody. He asked us to act normal and to pack a small bag of clothes and things as if we are only staying there for a few days. When he took us back home he asked my mom if we could stay with him until Monday since summer was almost over and she told him that was fine. So we said good-bye to our mom while holding back tears and faking smiles.
When they ended up going to court the judge ruled in my dad's favor and he was given full custody of us. We moved with him in his one bedroom apartment and he slept on the couch in the living room. At the time he was a restaurant manager and he quit is job and found another one with better hours so he could be home with us. By the time another year went by; he remarried and together they got us a house big enough for us each to have our own rooms.
A man raising 3 girls willingly is hard to come by... at least to me it is. He stepped up and did what was best for us. He always put our needs before his own. He worries about us non-stop and he does what he can to help. When Tara had 2 kids and couldn't provide the life they deserved she asked our dad to take them and he did with open arms. He has always been there for us and he always will be. I might not agree with his decisions 100%, but in the back of my mind I know that he does what he does for a reason. He has taught us to be strong and to try and fix our own problems, but in the same sense when we hit rock bottom he is right there to help us get on our feet. He is loving, caring, sweet, funny, goofy, supportive, and by far the best man I will ever know, and I love him with all of my heart.
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