Me and my Da

My Dad died this week after a long and courageous battle against cancer.
Although we were expecting his journey to end soon I still feel lost. My Dad was such an anchor in my life that I feel totally set adrift in the wake of his passing.
He and I were very much alike, from the same soul. I inherited my fighting spirit from him, that and the deranged notion that I’m constantly and consistently right.
Of course I learnt a lot about parenting from my Dad. He instilled a strong sense of self-belief in us from a very young age, something I try and do for my own children. He told us that we were capable of doing anything we put our mind to. I have the feeling that had I told him many years ago I had aspirations to be an astronaut he would have sought out courses, took me to the NASA open day and bought me the fancy space suit. Had I mentioned I fancied a career as a fisherman, he would have got me a second-hand boat, painted it up all nice and waved me off with a smile from the pier.
He was the head of our house and was the person my brothers, sister and I went to when times got tough. He always made it better – when I was five years old and fell off my bike to when I was 25 years old and having some serious journalistic-related troubles – our house was always a beacon in the dark, he was a guiding light bringing us home.
My dad was a great man. A man who championed equal rights as a young man – he was a leading light in the Civil Rights movement. He was a great teacher who left a lifelong imprint on the lives of thousands of pupils. He taught us, his children, great values – values I have passed onto my own children and I hope they will pass on to their own.
He was a man who firmly believed in doing stuff himself – some people call it multi-tasking, others control freakery – a trait I have also inherited. Although he was a teacher for 33 years, our next door neighbour thought he was a motor mechanic, as he was constantly fixing our beat out 1976 Nissan. After school he installed central heating systems, built conservatories, renovated houses. He was man who very much grabbed life by the scruff of the neck and shook every fibre out of it.
To us he’s not really gone, he’ll live on in all of us. We’ll continue on our path in life with him walking beside us, in spirit now, rather than in person. He’ll still provide the words of wisdom, only now he’ll whisper them in our ear. He’ll still be the strong suit of armour when we face our greatest fears.
Although I am heartbroken I’m so grateful, blessed and proud that he was my dad, I was his daughter.