Happy Father’s Day

Our lineage has always held fathers. All in different shapes and forms. Some balding, others brooding. Some with a tough or easy exterior and soft heart, whilst others with a hardness that never really wore off. 

One thing they’ve all had in common is changing us. The same way they were changed by their dads. 

Every time I listen to Made in Japan, I think of my grandfather. Not because he was a fan, but because I know the song carries his essence the same way phantom memories of his life in his village do.

Every time I’m kind without thinking twice, I think of my dad. Not because that’s what he would have wanted me to do, but because that’s what he would have done. And I’m glad I get to see that person in me.

Every time people laugh at my jokes, I remember the men who gave me that sense of humor. 

And every time I laugh with the ones I love whilst I’m aching, I remember the men I did that with first. 

If it weren’t for them. I wouldn’t be who I am. And i wouldn’t have the memories that made my lifetime a life. Dark evenings and the train ride home, swimming pools and the inability to stay out of the deadly splash zone. 

I would hate how I look a lot more if I didn’t know the imprints of my DNA were carried by these insanely weird men.

And I wouldn’t take care of my people the way I do if they hadn’t showed me how.

If it weren’t for our fathers, we wouldn’t be who we are, nor, for some of us, would we know who we don’t want to be. 

Happy father’s day. To the men and women who change us. For good.