By By Lee Weyhrich
Growing up without a father must be tough. I can't imagine not having that one person to look to when I wanted someone to play catch with or to fix a broken chain on my bike.
To tell you the truth, I went without a father for six months. Since I was a baby, I don't really know what it felt like, but fortunately I do know what it feels like to have your father teach you how to ride a bike and coach your baseball team.
Now that I'm going to be a father, I know how important it is to stick around. Nowadays it's too easy for someone to walk in a lawyer's office, sign a piece a paper and walk away from their family. I can honestly say my mother didn't do that.
My biological father left my mother before I was born. She's told me stories of how scared she was and how she didn't know how she was going to survive with three children and no husband. I can only imagine, and unfortunately some of you know, what she went though.
It was like in the movies though when she met my stepfather Richard. He was picking up his two sons from school and my mother was picking up my oldest brother. He had just gone through a divorce as well and they instantly fell in love again. That's right, again.
See my stepfather and mother were each others first loves. They dated when they first started high school, but like with most high school sweethearts, they went their separate ways. Fate brought them together again.
Even in my older age, I don't see much of my biological father, but it doesn't bother me as much because I have someone to look up to; someone who works hard, who cares about me and most of all loves my mother. That's all that really counts.
Even though my stepfather's the one who used to punish me, I know now I deserved it. I should have known I couldn't get away with shooting out the window in his car. Honestly though, it was an accident.
I have so many memories of times spent with my stepfather. He changed my diapers as a baby, picked me up from school, took me to the doctor, signed with me on my first car and played with me in the snow and on the beach; everything a father's supposed to do. He's been everything from my best friend to my best man.
That's why I don't consider him my stepfather. That's why I call him dad.
I know he didn't have to be my father, but he chose to and has done a great job. I just hope I can be half as good a father as he has been.
Happy Father's Day!
Adam Prestridge is publisher of the Atmore Advance. His column appears weekly.