What was your relationship with your Dad like?

[Averageman]

Just Curious.
I was having a conversation with my Son about some school stuff and came to the realization, that I never could have talked to my Dad like that.
Kinda made me Sad.
My Dad was a good guy. Great student, decent HS athlete, amatuer Army boxer and Paratrooper. I'm not sure if he was medically discharged or retired, he didn't talk to much about his service.
He was of that "Mad Men" generation of smoking and drinking and everything in excess,
He did tell me when he was a young guy a lot of the guys he was serving with had WWII combat jumps. He said he was setting next to an old NCO who told him "Never worry until they start handing out small arms ammo." He said two minutes later guys started hand trucking ammo up to the plane.
I dunno, we kind of lost touch after the divorce and never reconnected again.
Kinda makes me sad, hope I would have made him proud.

[chuckman]

My dad died in 1977 when I was 8, so I never really knew him. Many of his friends have passed, but according to our family and what few friends remain, he walked on water. My sister, now 62, still adores him. I still have big shoes to fill.

I had two men who were there for me growing up, became mentors and father figures. I try to be like them with my own kids. I try to think of what kind of father I wanted growing up and be that man.

[WillBrink]

My father was not a bad person at his core, but a world class narcissist. He was in WWII, but was in the orchestra of a general who loved music. That one is a funny story.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

I was super lucky. My dad was absurdly relaxed and easy going. He served in the Air Force during Korea and then went on to be an engineer at TI/JPL/NASA on pioneer and mariner venus and mars. Scary smart but also weirdly modest. Didn’t care at all about possessions other than electronic instruments and repairing motors, etc. died at 69 in 2005 and I miss him every day.

[ChattanoogaPhil]

My father had a genius IQ. He treated others with genuine respect and was the most easy going person I've known. Unfortunately, he was gone much of the time flying around the globe. No alcohol, tobacco or firearms. No shared hobbies with dad other than flying his plane. I believe he truly enjoyed his adult life. He was raised by a single mother in poverty reliant on the Church to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. He passed away from cancer nearly 20 years ago at 74.

[sadmin]

My Dad has had an interesting character arc over the years. He was very stern and stoic when I was approaching my teenage years. He travelled globally for work and was gone a lot. I became an asshole teenager and so when I did see him, he was usually disappointed, albeit rightfully so.
When I hit my late 20s and had my shit together, we grew closer and he was home more. I hugged him, told him I love him, etc.. things that were historically well out of his comfort zone. My family was not affectionate growing up, no love loss, just parents who arent very affectionate.
When I got married and had my first daughter, my Dad had a massive shift. He became very sensitive, emotional, light and relaxed. In parallel, he was contracting and does very well so it just became a very sweet time; my whole family grew closer it seemed. My wife and mother get along etc..
About 8 years ago, he asked if I would work with him on the weekends and it was a nice way to make some extra money. We basically became best friends, I cant imagine anyone I want to be around more outside of my wife and kids. Its been amazing and truly a blessing as he is now Stage 4 prostate cancer and things are rough.
I know time is limited and I take great comfort in knowing I dont have much regret or misappropriated time.. we spend tons of time together and I visit him a couple times a week / talk daily.

[Johnny Rico]

My Dad was modest, hard working, God-fearing. He was also old school, so we didn't communicate as much as kids and their fathers do these days. Don't resent that one bit, but I am a bit jealous that that sort of dynamic is presently looked down upon.

Everything I have I credit to him. He had a good life in the old country. Great career, family and friends, he had it all. He willingly left it all behind to start over here in the U.S. so that his kids could have a better life and his descendants would all be blessed to be American.

[ABNAK]

I'm gonna part ways with what seems to be the sentiment here, and maybe I should just keep my mouth shut, but here goes: my dad was mostly an asshole. He was what they called (at the time) manic-depressive. Saw him hit my mom a number of times, as well as my brother and I (not talking spankings either). We weren't close, especially as a kid (I despised him). As an adult he and I almost came to blows twice that I recall, both times he had it coming. In hindsight I'm glad it didn't happen as I'd probably regret beating his ass now. In later years we got along for the most part. Sad isn't it? I didn't cry at his funeral when he died in 2009 at almost 64yo. I felt guilty about that for some time but realized you can't force emotions like that and if nothing else I'm not fake. Such is life, water under the bridge.....

I envy those of you who had dad's you referred to as "best friends". I don't have kids but if I did I'd try to be like your dads, not mine.

[Artos]

My folks divorced when I was real young & I went to live with him in Jr Hi...I too was lucky & we are still hunting / fishing buddies. Very close.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

My dad was middle of 7 seven kids, got his first car in a poker game, was Jesuit-educated(when that meant something) knife-fighter intellectual Socratic teacher, who could sell anything to anyone. He drank too much, talked too much, but was always ready to listen. He was such a character that my three siblings and I only got 1/4 of it. Taken too early 22 years ago, but I got to know him when we were both adults, but before I was a father. I know that he was proudest of me when we’d have a few beers and a few arguments and he would just pause and look at me with a little smirk that I knew meant “He gets it”.

[Stickman]

He is a man whose expertise is missed on and off the battle field, and an incredible father.

I don't hold a candle to him.

[DG23]

Biological dad is / was a piece of shit. I only wish he lived closer so if I found out that he died already I could take my dogs and have have all 3 of us shit on his grave for some pictures to remember him by.

Step dad was cool as hell and definitely a blessing to my mom. Best thing that ever could have happened to her was snatching that dude up. Smart, hard ass working, loyal, 23 years of honorable service in the USMC before retiring from there and moving on to computer programming. 3 Purple Hearts while serving but never, ever gave up or thought about quitting because of any puny 'injury'. Served aboard / with HMX-1 when Ford was president. Dude was a bad ass and damn smart as well.

(Pisses me off when you fools refer to Marines as 'crayon eaters'. When my step dad retired from the Marines he took his ass straight to college (enrolled in 2 at the same time so he could finish faster) and graduated with a PERFECT 4.0 GPA in Computer Science. No damn 'crayon eater' could pull something like that off. I think he finished all of that school in just a little over two years for a 4 year degree)


Now my son - I disowned his ass a few years back. Freaking rude, disrespectful, stupid, owns cats so very possibly gay, every time he opens his mouth dumb shit comes out of it.

I remember one time the shit called me and started asking way to many questions about my finances and then about my firearms. Tried to be intentionally vague hoping he would drop those questions and move on but dummy didn't get the hint. Finally just asked him flat out WHY in the heck did he want to know all of that shit. Kid said (no joke) 'Well just in case you were to die or something I just wanted to know how big of a truck I would need to get to come collect your stuff and about what it would be worth'. :mad:

After hearing that I asked the bastard when my birthday was. After he told me that he didn't know I told him that 'THAT is why you are not getting SHIT from me. I would rather my stuff go to a few local crack whores than your dumb ass. Feel free to call again after you FOAD, dumb ass'.

I did in fact have a will made up not long after that just to make damn SURE that if anything did happen to me that that particular bastard would not get a damn thing.

When that kid was conceived the best part of him ran down his mamas leg and hit the floor.

'If' somehow we ever manage to build a real deal time machine in my lifetime - I am definitely going back in time so I can shoot myself in the balls BEFORE that kid has a chance to be made. Would be doing the world a damn favor... :suicide2:

[tn1911]

My Dad was my best friend.

He taught me how to hunt, fish and enjoy the outdoors. I took to his love of aviation as a kid. He got his private pilot's license when I was very young and introduced me to flying and the bug never left and stayed with me to this very day.

He was always supportive of what I was interested in from my very first job out of high school in EMS to my career in aviation to post 9/11 days in law enforcement.

He passed in Nov 2019 and not a day goes by I don't think of him.

I can honestly say I have nothing but fond and wonderful memories of him.

He was the best.

Miss you so much dad.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

DG


Freaking rude, disrespectful, stupid, owns cats so very possibly gay,

That's the funniest shit I have seen all day!

[C-grunt]

My dad was a pretty awesome guy. Very smart. Legitimately a genius. But he was also s very simple man. Not materialistic in the slightest. He loved hiking, bicycling, cooking, and photography.

He never used his intelligence for employment though. He was a salesman. When I was very young he sold hospital equipment. He was very good at it and even won a salesman of the year award which sent him to a digfighting school. He and his boss went to the school and did dogfighting in old jets equipped with laser systems. I probably still have the VHS somewhere. The company he worked for got bought out and he lost his job. He stated his own company but as he told me years later "no hospital is buying a multi million dollar MRI machine from some guy". He did well selling small items, but portable arm pressure machines ain't making the mortgage. After that he sold bedroom furniture.

After work he would sit and do sudoku, the weekly crossword in the paper, and read the latest book from Steven Hawking and the likes.

He passed away suddenly in January 2020. I miss him a lot. We had trips planned that we kept putting off and never got to go on.

[MegademiC]

My father was stern but down to earth. He has/had low self esteem (partially from my mother, and I didnt notice until adulthood) but he instilled confidence in us (my brothers and I). He is religious, and showed good leadership of the household in certain respects. He worked a LOT of my childhood, but we have sone really great memories in the little time we had together, and he pushed me to do stuff he couldnt teach me.

Id say given his past and life Id be hard pressed to do better. Im very happy with how I turned out.

[AKjeff]

My dad was my hero while I was growing up and we got along great. Fishing, camping, sailing, playing catch, cookouts.
I never saw the other kids in the neighborhood playing catch with their dads.

Sometime in my 20's we started to not get along so well, it came and went and I could never figure out what the deal was.
I suspect that if I weren't his son he wouldn't have liked me very much.
I think he was jealous of my life and career.

We did work together for a summer, I was the supervisor and he was on the crew. We got along great then.

My parents moved out of town so I didn't see them as often, I thought I'd see them more when I was done working.
He died before I retired, so that didn't work out so well.

I get my mechanical aptitude and independent/distrust of authority streak from him.

I will add, Dad died in 2018, while President Trump was in office and the country was doing great.
As much as I miss him, I'm glad he didn't have to see what was coming next in our country.

I don't think he'd believe it.

[MC_Oper8or]

He passed on in 2009. He had a temper which didn't go away when he was born again. I didn't hear him say that he loved me until I was 21. I would never get closer to him, even leading up to his death from cancer.


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[FromMyColdDeadHand]

If it makes anyone feel better, my dad electrocuted me, twice. He was not handy. He even had a specific non-song he'd whistle when he was at a hardware store- and I knew he was totally lost.

[yoni]

My dad is still alive and kicking at 96. He is great, since Covid we have got in that habit of talking a lot every day. He gets wound up because he watches way too much news. Growning up he taught me how to work and not be afraid of it. When I was young and lusted after or dreamed of things beyond my ability to purchase, he would make a deal with me son you save up 50% of it and I will kick in the other 50%. This built in me that with hard work and discipline dreams can become reality.

I am sure everything I have obtained was due to his education and wisdom passed on.

I will admit, I was not so great as he was. I was away due to work way too much, but tried to do the right thing when I got home. I still am involved very much in my adult children's lives.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Don’t be hard on yourself Yoni, those terrorists aren’t going to kill themselves… well, not the right ones in the good way… you know what I mean.

[yoni]

It was very hard, gone at times for a long time, and then coming home to kids that needed me.

I try and justify it from an event where I was the first person on the scene to a terror attack and the whole family was murdered even the infant in the car seat. They happened to be good friends, so I took the attitude that I might even be saving not only my own kids, but other children.

But I failed, as the headlines today show, more terrorism. A family lost 2 sisters and a mother in an attack today. I was willing to do what ever it took to stop it once and for all, but the whores in the Knesset never allowed us to do it.

[utahjeepr]

I liked my dad, but we had a complicated relationship. He was a kind of self centered/borderline narcissist type. He saw me as an extension of him and I never measured up. He was there for me though, and that ain't nothing. We did a lot of great stuff when I was a kid, it's just that it was always more about him. Fear of me following in those footsteps was a factor in deciding not to have kids. He wasn't a bad father, just wasn't the relationship type I guess. I dunno, I'm a bit cold and distant myself so could have been both of us.

He's been gone over 10 years now, and we did better those last few years. He even kinda forgave me for going USMC vs Army/SF. ;)

I actually think about him reading posts sometimes. When guys go off about the military being all conservative and wouldn't this or that. Pops was SF, 3rd SFG(A), and a lifelong Dem. He'd buy whatever they pitched, though he would often claim "they don't really mean/want that, it's just stuff they have to say/do". Especially with the commie and socialist crap. He was ok with AWB and gun control, because "most folks shouldn't have/don't need guns". He had his though(?). He thought athletes and actors deserved to be millionaires, but folks who ran businesses should earn blue collar salaries. He hated gays but thought it was good politics to pander to them for votes. He thought Obama was great and he would have loved Joe.

[ABNAK]

I liked my dad, but we had a complicated relationship. He was a kind of self centered/borderline narcissist type. He saw me as an extension of him and I never measured up. He was there for me though, and that ain't nothing. We did a lot of great stuff when I was a kid, it's just that it was always more about him. Fear of me following in those footsteps was a factor in deciding not to have kids. He wasn't a bad father, just wasn't the relationship type I guess. I dunno, I'm a bit cold and distant myself so could have been both of us.

He's been gone over 10 years now, and we did better those last few years. He even kinda forgave me for going USMC vs Army/SF. ;)

I actually think about him reading posts sometimes. When guys go off about the military being all conservative and wouldn't this or that. Pops was SF, 3rd SFG(A), and a lifelong Dem. He'd buy whatever they pitched, though he would often claim "they don't really mean/want that, it's just stuff they have to say/do". Especially with the commie and socialist crap. He was ok with AWB and gun control, because "most folks shouldn't have/don't need guns". He had his though(?). He thought athletes and actors deserved to be millionaires, but folks who ran businesses should earn blue collar salaries. He hated gays but thought it was good politics to pander to them for votes. He thought Obama was great and he would have loved Joe.

Yeah, that would be a bit difficult.


:sarcastic:

[33XRAY]

I just deleted that brick of text I wrote to spare you all, but I did keep the last part:

I remember a road trip with the family where my old man shit his pants. He pulled over, ran out the car, and we all waited in the car. When he came back, he sat in he driver seat, and he told us enjoy the smell of shit, because nobody would bring me toilet paper.

[SteyrAUG]

I was lucky enough to get one good parent, my dad.

He was a pretty good sport about most things. Life could have been nicer to him.

[AppalachianThunder]

My old man was a very humble and understanding, give you the shirt off his back type of man, but he was not to be crossed. My mother wasn't around when I was a kid so it was just me and him. He owned an industrial contracting company and I got to work with him alot in my teens. He taught me to be a highly skilled tradesman and demanded excellence from me. Perfection was not special to him, it was the standard, and I will always be grateful for those lessons.

We went fishing, hunting, and worked around the homestead when he wasn't on a job. Taught me how to raise animals, grow a garden, and cook so I could fend for myself.

I was 20 years old when he died suddenly at 63. Would have like a few more years with him, but it is what it is. Doing pretty well nowadays.

[Averageman]

I can remember catching a deflected Pass, coming right through their backfield and running it back 48 yards. I'm running like my ass is on fire and my Dad was step for step with me on the sidelines.
Proudest moment of boyhood.