My Dad's Love

With the achievements I have made in the past couple of months with shedding the weight and becoming fit I have only one regret. My one regret is that I didn't wake up earlier so that my Dad could share in my achievement which I knew he had always wanted to see.

I am one of 10 kids and my Dad was a diabetic who loved food a love which he passed down to all his kids along with his indomitable spirit. Because of his illness he was deeply concerned about the weight of his kids as we matured and perpetuated his same love for food. He was never a very tactful man and his concern was always expressed in a gruff and rough way which more often than not raised our defenses and resentment of the off hand statements which he made.

I was the last family member to see my Dad the night before he died and I never fully understood the wealth of his concern until now. He was on his death bead and one of the last coherent things my Dad said with me at his side he looked at the doctor and said "Doc she get fat eeeh?" and the doctor looked at me and asked if what he was saying was true and I said "yes".  My one thought even then was that Daddy was being mean as usual and what a time for it.

But my Dad wasn't being mean, he was expressing the deep concern that he felt and the fact that he really did not want his children to go down the same path that he had. Now that I have finally woken up to the reality of what an unhealthy life style can do and how being fit is a blessing I realize the full weight of my Dad's concern for his children and the wish of every parent for the best for their child.

I am blessed to have taken a lot of my Father's traits even some that I never fully understood until now and one of those was his indomitable spirit and will power and his constant expectation of excellence for himself and his family. It was through the strength inherent in my parentage that I have been able to rise to the challenge and change my life and I deem this accomplishment a tribute to my Dad's love. 

He gave me the strength to transform into a butterfly.