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I wanna tell a story, about a man....

IUfanBorden

Hall of Famer
Gold Member
Dec 11, 2011
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Who is my hero. Firt off, I know its OT---and look if ya dont like---I really don't give a ^%&%. Secondly, yeah, yeah---I share some personal stuff on here. I know. And tbh dudes, I really dont have a lot of friends. From drinking to much and burning bridges, to getting sober, officiating full-time, I just dont have a lot of close friends. And pretty separated from most of my fam: Thats a story for another time. ;) . So to me, this board is, well my "go to"---It allows me to release. So its why I post some of the stuff I do. Anyways...

My pops. What a dude. Only one dude that I know of on here knows my dads condition. So to fiil ya in, he is the care of hospice, and in the final stages of renal failure. It tough, but as always, my dad shows why, well, hes my hero.

He quit dialysis a little over a month ago. He calls and says---"Son this is not how I wanna go.."---And I was like, dad you know what this means, right? Yep, I do. It means i get to spend the rest of time undertanding and realizing when my kids are around...family is around. It means I get a few more weeks of fishing with you...Few more weeks of playing with my grandchildren...A few more weeks of arguing with my daughter.....I was like, Ummmm, yeah, but dad, it also means you are gonna, well----die.

"Son, that decision(dying) has alrady been made. I cannot control that. But I can control how I go out."

Wow...I mean to most this may not sound like much. But it is. Treatment does not cure him, but it gives him, or would have gave him A LOT more time. Like maybe even years. So to make such a decision like that? Yeah, thats why that dude is MY GUY. Its the epitome of he is. And what he has always been---An absolute monster of a man.

You see, this dude is not my biological father. Never met that dude---and don't care to. He married my mom when I was 2. At 5 my mom decided to split....Took all us kids back to Indiana. Mom went astray---My sister went back to pops....Me? Well, I went to foster care. After about 3 weeks in foster care, guess who comes and gets me? Not an aunt...or an uncle...or a grandparent---But a dude who had NO respnsibility to me at all. I was his step-son. But yet, thats the dude who showed up to get me. And since he and mom were still leagally married----off with DAD I went.

Think about that^^^^^. . He didn't have a single reason to get me. None. But when he showed up he simply said----"I am here to get MY SON." I mean, ok....So we leave.

Eventually mom comes to her senses, we move back to TN. Mom leaves again. I wanna stay with dad---But I cant. This time, divorece---and therefore, dad has no legal right to me. At 11 I end up back in foster care...But this time, he cannot come get me. Fortunately my grandfather steps in, and raises me until HS. But dad was ALWAYS there. He remarried, moved to Georgia, but this dude made about 80% of my HS sporting events....He made my HS graduation...He made my graduation from Basic Training. He was there when I was married----he was there when I went through a divorce....he was there when I struggled with alochol.....

Sense a pattern? Remember----this is not my biological father.

I have learned so much from this guy. From working hard, to loving people, to respecting people---I owe this guy everything I have ever accomplished. I watched him work from 5am to 7pm, in the hot TN sun, in a god damn cotton gin----yet even when tired, dirty and tattered, this guy still found the time to play catch. Or to go fishing---Or to push my sister on the swing, or have "tea parties" with her...

I asked dad about all this last week....And how thankful I was. And what it meant. And his reply was...


"Son, that was my job...And it was the best job I ever had...."

I could go on and on about this man. But, well, pretty sure my fingers woould fall off. I just wanted to share, because for one it helps me, and for two---People deservet o know about a man who loved a kid, took care of a kid, taught a kid, even though that kid was not his. My pops has a special place awaiting him when he leaves us---And I cannot wait for him to gt that reward..

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Just a great person........

Again if ya don't like, just skip over. I just wanna share the love this man gave to not just me, but to everyone. Its my way of saying----

"Thank you dad....
 
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