Traditionally Mother’s Day is a day to say and show our mothers how much we appreciate how much they do and have done for us and for the love and guidance that they have given us. Until I became a mother myself it was kind of lost on me. That’s not because I was an inappreciative little brat but because of the fact that I grew up without a mother. My parents divorced when I was three years old. My father was awarded custody of us, which was almost unheard of in the 50′s. Becoming a mother and trying to be the best mother that I could be to my children was a bit of a struggle for me at times since I didn’t have the mothering from a mother to draw from. I did the best that I could and relied on how I had been parented by my father. My father always did the best that he could for us. The first few years were rough, because in that day men weren’t as involved in rearing children. Things were also tight money wise, I don’t know if it was from the financial burden of the divorce or just what. I do remember a lot of nights of just beans and cornbread or eggs and fried potatoes. Those times didn’t last too long and when things got better my brother and I wanted for nothing. I was the only girl in high school who owned and rode a motorcycle to school as an example. I was always a sensitive child and the fact that our father was raising us by himself wasn’t not lost on me even at an early age. When I got old enough I started doing the cooking and cleaning. I wasn’t asked or made to do this, I did it because I wanted to make things easier on my father because I knew how tired he was when he came home from work. My grandmother always told me that I was old for my age. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time. After I had children I finally understood what she meant. It never entered my mind to throw a fit like my children would do when asked to do something around the house. My father taught me many things even though he wasn’t aware that a lesson was being taught. He taught me about working hard and work ethics. I can only remember him missing work three times in my childhood and they were for only a few hours each time. The first that I remember was when I was eight years old and he had to leave work a half hour early because I had been swinging from the roof of a lean-to shed and my ring got caught on a nail when I swung and let go. Then he missed a few hours of work when he had to have an abscessed tooth pulled (back then they would go ahead and pull it without treating you with antibiotics first), then the last time was when he had to take off for an hour to meet me and my fiance at the courthouse so that he could sign for me to get married at 17 years old. Because he let me learn to cook and clean even before I was really old enough to be doing such things, I learned how to run a household. There were things he taught me that he did intend to teach me. He taught me to drive even though I’m sure there were times that he wasn’t sure that we would survive the lesson. He taught me how to use a hammer and a screwdriver any time that he needed help with any kind of building project or repair around the house he always got me to help him so I learned to be mechanically inclined. He helped me with my multiplication tables when I was in fourth grade and having such difficulty learning them. Because of his efforts math has always been one of my strong suites ever since. I could go on but I think you get the gist of what I’m saying. So, Daddy even though you are no longer here on this earth with me, this post is dedicated to you. You still live in my heart. Thank you for not giving us up. Thank you for everything that you gave up to keep us. Thank you for doing the best that you could do. Thank you for being both Mama and Daddy to us. Thank you for being my best friend. Happy Mother’s Day Daddy.