Member-only story
My father passed when I had just turned 13 years. The age 13 was symbolic because it represented my debut into manhood. It was the age my father and I would finally get to bond. You should know that my father was a great man to everybody but me. I came into a life where he was greatly respected and adored. Before I could speak properly, the words “hope you will be a great man like your father” was etched to my soul.
My father was the warmest man in the world, easy-going with so much love. I certainly wasn’t feeling the affection because he yelled at me more than he spoke to me. He wanted me to be a perfect machine, made in his image. Academically I excelled, but I was a mess everywhere else. That bothered him.
“Why can’t you be like your sister?”
As a very competitive child, those words kindled the fire within me to become better than her. That dream was short-lived because little miss sunshine could do no wrong in daddy’s eyes. The bias for her was unbelievable. Soon, I started to forge my own path. I didn’t want to be as great as my father, I wanted to be greater.
My father worked like a man who knew his time on earth was very limited. There were days I awoke in awe of his ability to…
