a grateful daddy's girl

it's Father's Day here in the US and it is bringing up a lot of intense emotions from people on Facebook and Twitter. some folks who didn't grow up with their dads are honoring their mother's today or are venting about their lackluster relationships with their fathers, or other male role models. while i sent Father's Day greetings to my friends and family who are dads, i also send love to my friends who are single moms. i think today can be hard for them too. i have heard their frustrations in trying to fill both roles, and their admission of the importance of having a good male figure in raising children. the relationship between a father and child is unique and it's not about a mother taking place of a father because that's not the goal. but some mothers do double duty and play different roles because they have to. that doesn't diminish the role of fathers...if anything it speaks to their importance.

i am honoring my Dad today...for everything he has done for me and taught me and for who he is. all the time spent (still) talking with me about life's growing pains, playing with Barbie and She-ra, taking me to play mini-golf and see terrible 80's movies, helping me with homework, taking my friends and I to the mall or to batting cages, listening to me cry about stupid boys (and telling me that they are young, dumb and full of cum), and making sure my Mom and I had our needs met and fulfilled (and then some). he is the most incredible man i know and through his relationship with my Mom and I, family, friends and others, I understand how I deserve to be treated and loved. he always looked out for my friends who also saw/see him as a father figure, and has always instilled in me (consciously and sub-consciously) that women of color are the flyest force to be reckoned with. my Dad raised a good "feminist/womanist" because he never put any limits on what i wanted to learn or accomplish as a female.

the people who tell me my standards are too high have my dad to blame, but i have no reason to settle for less. i pray that that my children will have a father as caring, fun and attentive as him, and that is one of the ways i hope to honor him. in the meantime, i'll continue to make him proud with who he has helped me become and by thanking him today and every day.

since one of our favorite activities was/is watching videos and bad b-movies, the following is for you, Pops :)

my dad is a Mets fan and someone gave him the '86 Mets commemorative videotape for Christmas that year. i literally used to watch that tape every day. i'm pretty sure this is where my love/lust of baseball players stems from (i loved me some Roger McDowell). i still know the words to this song...even though i grew up to be a Yankees fan (we always went to Yankee games...and we got Jeter). sorry Pops but i know this is still a classic...


he did teach me about smooth operators...even though i haven't always listened...lol :/


i used to tape music videos all the time (i miss VHS) and i'll never forget that he asked me to tape this video for him and the poker boys, lmao.


we used to jam out to these dudes, and we even went to their concert when i got grown. (another tape i jacked from him, sorry Dad!) yeah for white guys with soul :)

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