I remember The days Both of you Were born How proud I was How much hope I had How I knew I would be A great father to you two Throughout the years The struggles The battles We had good times Reading books to you Going to the park Giving your memories Of a father That I never had That was my greatest gift to you To show you how a man should be Camping Hiking Swimming Biking Vacations at the beach Memories no longer out of reach For me You gave me more The childhood I lost You let me prove I wasn’t broken You gave me The opportunity To the be the father I dreamed of having Oh, to be sure I stumbled Fell down Disappointed you too I was hard And tough And sometimes A ******* I had to Prepare you for the world But hopefully you’ll remember How I was a gentleman Respectful Courteous Kind Thoughtful and brave How much I involved myself In your lives Even when you hated me Being there I know But if I hadn’t You would have missed me And now The time grows close Where I must leave We’ll still have time Time together But you’re growing older Getting ready to move on Into the world I hope the lessons I’ve been repeating Over and over again Will one day sink in Like I know they will And you’ll remember Your dear old dad Was not as wrong As you said he was That you will grow into Men Men who know How to treat A lady How to respect Themselves Nice clothes And a clean shave Mean nothing Without manners Work hard Play nice Have fun Laugh a lot Make good friends And be one too Wait until you find The one who amazes you And raise your children Better than I did I love you more More than you’ll ever know At least until you have kids Then you’ll understand I miss you already Your father March 21st 2016