He taught me to NOT be like him.
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This comment was by Nate in reference to the post – The Things I Never Got to Share With My Dad
I’m sorry for the loss of your dad. I feel much of what you’re feeling as I’ve experienced much of the same. My father is still very much alive and is still the coldest person I have ever known. I may be bitter and have some issues to some people but here they are:
Some things I’ve never got to share with my dad:
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Tie a tie (I learned in the Marine Corps).
Shave (which is why I hate doing it and have a full beard now).
The Sex Talk (He did “attempt” to when I was 18 years old! but by then it was way too late).
Learning to Drive (He attempted once in a parking lot, I put the car in reverse and he started screaming at me to get out so I did. He got in the driver’s seat and left me there to walk home 3 miles).
Changing a Tire/Checking the Oil.
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No Scouting Events or Campouts.
No Little League or any other sporting events.
No Vacations whatsoever.
Red Sox Game.
Cooking a Meal.
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The “Don’t Marry that Woman” Talk (I sure wish he did, it would have saved me so much heartache).
The Divorce Talk (Or at least try to let me know I was going to be ok afterwards…instead of “suck it up and stop being a big baby”).
Things he thought he was actually good at by being my dad:
• Being “There” for all us kids (He had a 3-hour commute a day and would come home and immediately fall asleep after supper…I wouldn’t see him again until the next evening when he got home from work).
• Ramming “RELIGION” down our throats (So much that I will forever despise religion…mostly because he was a hypocrite).
• Discipline (apparently using closed fists and choking was acceptable to him because my grandfather used weapons on him).
• Being the BEST husband/How to Treat a Woman (Actually he did … because I’ve tried everything in my power to do absolutely everything opposite of the way he did to my mother so for that I actually do THANK him.)
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