When you look up the definition of family in the dictionary it tells you that it consists of two parents raising their children under one roof. You assume that everyone in the household would be related by blood. That statement is usually correct but family means more than that to me now.
I live in a household where all my siblings have the same mom but our dads are different. Now the man of the house is the father of my younger brother. However, my sister and I still call him dad. My sister still goes to see her dad every other weekend but the last time I saw my biological father was the day of my twelfth birthday.
When I was younger I used to be very upset that he no longer wanted to see me. It made me think I had done something bad or maybe something was wrong with me. In reality, there was nothing wrong with me at all. If it wasn't for my stepdad I probably wouldn't have been able to figure that out.
It feels weird saying stepdad as I write this because that's what he is legally. However, I don't call him that because that title just doesn't fit him at all. Without a doubt, he is my dad and will always be. I can't recall a memory at all without him in it.
There have even been times I've been at home annoying the crap out of my mom with him and she would yell, " You know you didn't help make her but she is definitely your kid! you two are the exact same person!"
That's a very true statement because no matter what he was always there. He picked me up when I fell off my bike. He was there when I fell in love with my middle school boyfriend. He hugged me as I cried the day he broke up with me.
Then high school came. He spent endless hours with me in the car teaching me how to drive. Always saying that I shouldn't be learning from him because he was just going to turn me into him, a VERY bad driver. He even went with me and my mom to go dress shopping for my prom.
But what I won't ever forget is his reaction to certain events that happened in the last year.
Graduation day is obviously a day that parents are going to cry, duh. I cried too, I made it. After waking the stage and getting my diploma we went to meet our parents. As I walked up to them, he hugged me and said, "I'm so proud of you baby girl!"
The day of my open house, as people came in I introduced them to my parents. I didn't know it then but my mom told me after, as I said this is my dad, Curtis, and my mom, Sam, he got so happy he almost cried.
Finally, move-in day for college had arrived. We packed up the truck and drove an hour to Purdue campus. After we unloaded everything and set up my room, it was time for my parents to leave. Of course, that's when the tears started to come. My parents hugged and kissed me, as I waved by he said, "Look at my daughter, She's a college student."
Even thinking about all of these moments I tear up a bit. With all the stuff I've been through I wouldn't have wanted to have happened any other way. I know that no matter what happens or where I'm at, I can always count on him. He helped make me into the person I am today. He'll always be there. No questions asked. Because he is my dad.
