My dad,

I will always love my dad no matter how much he hurts me. I loved him, I love him, and I will always love him for as long as I live. I can scream and yell at him for all the pain that he has caused me but at the end of the day I will still love him.
When I was younger, I use to blame everybody but him for his actions. I would find any other thing to blame, anything but him! I would blame his job, my mom, the other womans, his friends, any thing to place the blame on someone or something else. Now I see him for he truly is. Instead of trying to change him, I just accept him for who he is. I don't have high expectations for him and I don't see him as a super hero anymore either because he isn't. I still love him though. He is my dad and he encourages me to be my best. He listens to me when I need him and he inspires me to be more than who I am. He helped my mom raise me and he gave me the gift of experiencing the world.
So while my dad made mistakes, it doesn't necessarily make him a bad person. Those mistakes don't make up who he is and they do not define his life. While those mistakes affected me greatly, I still believe that he loves me. He may not be here to show me all of the time but, I still believe it.
My dad is only human and he is bound to make mistakes and I will not put him on pedestal in regard to everybody else. He sins just like everybody. 

Plus, I can't blame him for chasing after his dreams. I know that he sees the big picture to life and he isn't just looking at his own personal life. So he is carrying the burden of thinking about the world. Sometimes that causes people to lose everything but the cause they fight for. So while it still hurts to think of the good days, I know that he did not want to hurt me.
I forgive my dad because I love him. 

The pain does not blur my vision of the past. The goody days are still good days to me. They did not turn bad because of pain that I felt. I know that in that moment they were good. It hurts to think of them sometimes because I know that I won't have it again but, they are still good. I will have different kinds of good days now and I am grateful for the good days that I did have back then. 

Maybe the lesson out of this is that this is reality. There are some things that you can't change no matter how hard you try. Life is not some kind of fantasy where everything goes right and everyone is happy. However that does not make this life a bad one. It was a rude awakening, yes but, life is still so beautiful to me. One bad experience will not blur the rest of my days. It will not ruin my love for my dad. While I have learned to accept the way life comes to me, it does not change me.
I will still love with everything that I have and I will challenge the things I believe I can change. The only way I will be able to change my surroundings is if I continue to pour myself into everything that I do. I will love because, it is what I know best.
That is the best lesson my dad could've ever taught me.
Thank you for making me stronger than I taught was possible.