I have an amazing family. I also have an atypical family. My dad, along with being a father to my brother and I, is also a father to three of my half-siblings, and a grandfather to eight kids ranging from 7 to 27 years old. Some of his grandchildren are older than I am. Everyone refers to him on our side of the clan as “Captain,” or the “lion” because of his strength and wisdom. My mom is pretty normal (but also great), coming from a fairly big Italian family on the West Coast.

My dad was kind of the mom throughout my childhood, taking my brother and I to school and doing the stay-at-home mom things a female would usually do. He was retired by the time I was born, and my mom has been the working one throughout the 19 years I have been alive. My dad has broken his neck three times, been to war, was drafted to a major league baseball team, lived in countless different places, and has had a heart attack and lost his feet as a result of his organs shutting down. A few years after the heart attack, he got renal cancer and now only has 25 percent of one kidney. Someone might look at that and think “how is he still alive?” It is genuinely a miracle that he is still here fighting on to be with my family and I each day. I’d go as far to say he is stronger than ever, although now his renal cancer is at stage four and the tumors are growing gradually. On top of this, he has congestive heart failure, but looking at him you would never know any of this. I still have no doubt that he will be here to see both my brother and I graduate college and (hopefully) will walk me down the aisle at my wedding.

It has been pretty hard since I began my teenage years, seeing my dad in pain and wanting to help, but knowing there is nothing to do but pray to God that he will get through everything. Every few years, it seems like there is a wake up call, some new health complication arises, and increases my worries about his health and state of being. He is my best friend and although he can be very strict, he is just a jolly man with a starkly commanding voice. I need him to help me figure the beginnings of my life out and I cannot do that if he is gone.

I am writing this as a reminder to myself of how lucky I am to have parents who care so much about my brother and I, and even with all of the technical health issues my dad has, he does NOT falter. It is a reminder to those whose parents and family are healthy to appreciate the moments you have with them, because they are not unlimited. I am writing this as a wish and a prayer that my dad will continue to live through his difficulties, and will be there in 10 years as a 90-year-old man watching over his family with love and pride.