Growing up, I think every little boy has the desire to be like his father. I know that I spent quite a bit of my life trying to be like my dad.
I grew up in a divorced family from the time I was five. Even though my dad left our family, he was still very much present, and he loved me a lot. I only saw him every other weekend and on Wednesday evenings, which I cherished. Although the amount of time I was with him was only a fraction of my whole life, he has definitely had the biggest impact on me in many different aspects.
Since he was such a big part of my life and showed so much love for me, I learned how to love from him. He showed me everything a father shows his son. I learned how to hunt, fish, ride my bike, build a tree house, and so much more all from him. The most important thing that I did with him was spend quality time with him, which is a huge way to show love for someone. It took me quite a few years to come to the realization that he was teaching me how to be a father while he was teaching me all of those skills. Learning how to love somebody and be a father is one of the biggest impacts he has had on my life.
The whole time I was a child I would hear about how good of a person my dad was or how he was such a great athlete, and that was what drove me to be like him. I remember when we used to go hunting a lot together; he wore certain clothes and had certain accessories, which I obviously had to have because I wanted to be his little clone. Not only did I want to look like him, but I also wanted to be a father like him. He was a very strong leader and had a really good work ethic that I admired. I am really grateful that he did because it caused me to pick up on those things. I looked up to my dad and picked up any trait that would be beneficial to me. My personality would not be the way it is today without someone like my dad to look up to. Another testimony to his personality was the fact that even his seven year long battle with cancer didn't stop him from coming to my football games when I was sitting on the bench, and he was in excruciating pain. His fighting personality caused me to not give up easily at all.
When I was only fifteen, in the middle of my freshman year, he finally lost the battle with cancer. For the first few months I was in shock and wasn't too emotional, but the months after that were very tough. Through my dad's death I learned how to get through the death of a loved one, release bitterness through forgiveness, and depend on others when life is too much to handle. Now, looking back, I rejoice in the fact that he died as weird as that sounds. I still miss him and would rather have him back, but I learned things that cannot be taught. Because of his death, things got awkward between my step mom and I. We both handled the whole situation wrong which led to me being bitter towards her for about 2 years. It wasn't until three months ago when I met up with her that I was able to forgive her and let go of the bitterness that that I had been holding onto for so long. Forgiveness is a major part of life that can change a person completely if it isn't done correctly. Fortunately for me, I was able to go about it the right way and learn a key concept in life-Suck up your pride.
My dad caused me to be the way I am today because of things he taught me when he was alive and things I had to learn because of his death. Even though he is gone, I still hold on to the things he taught me, and I am thankful that I was able to gain those important traits in my character.
Yep - your essay resonates with maturity. Its solid as a Comm app. You make forgiveness sound so easy - maybe an example of adversity and failure would help in the saga of your growing up. In any case, it reads well and is convincing, authentic. Thank you for rising to the challenge of losing a parent , of life in general.
