Life goes on and my Dad did really well considering he was a single parent and didn’t get married again. He just raised all five kids. From where I’m standing looking back at it now, that’s a lot of responsibility. And there aren’t very many dad’s that would take in five kids let alone two. I say this because originally my mom did want to split us up in such a way that she would take two kids and my dad would take three. However, there was disagreement from my Auntie, my dad’s sister and my cousins. My oldest cousins. They thought it was a better suggestion that it was all or nothing. So, my dad took all five of us under his roof and my mom didn’t object to that. That may be very telling of her, or maybe not.
At a glance, my dad did what he knew, but he fell short of what being a dad looks like. Caring, nurturing, treating a lady with respect and compassion. I did not know what that looks like, so for there was no structure of what being a good husband or father figure looked like. But his temperament was like a “bad boy.” When my brothers, and…… it didn’t matter which one. They would get into trouble at school or on the streets with a couple of the syndicate within the neighborhood, there seem to be some animosity and hostility in the neighborhood against my brothers. It involved envy with the ladies. We all know how that goes right? My dad went all “Charles Bronson” and took out a firearm one time when the gang came to our front yard. Let’s remember. This was back in the day. That’s crazy! He wasn’t going to use it, but was just to scare them off, but that was his bad boy crazy father side. I was glad my brothers didn’t keep violent weapons at home today. In this day and age. My brothers didn’t really bother anyone and minded their own business. They are good men like that.
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