LillyBoPeep -> RE: Celebrating the men in our lives. (6/16/2011 11:57:54 AM)
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My grandpa - This guy became my primary father figure because my dad took off. =p Grandpa died last December because of a brain tumor, but he was the strongest, hardest working guy I ever knew. I grew up in a small town and everyone knew him. He'd built a business that lasted for decades (50 years) and was pretty much known throughout the region as being an upstanding, truth-telling, hardworking, all-around decent guy. He had some old fashioned beliefs that used to irritate me, but he was from another generation and he changed a lot of his opinions over time. When we were little kids, my grandma would always give us really cool stuff for Christmas, and we'd say "thanks Grandma!" Grandpa would sit there and smile and that was it. Finally Grandma told us "you know your Grandpa's the one who has the idea to get you guys this stuff, right?" Grandpa was always a behind the scenes kinda guy -- he loved puppies and babies, but would pretend to be too macho to play with them. =p My uncles -- both of my uncles were born with a really awful genetic disorder. One of them was affected from the day he was born and the other had no problems until (seriously) the night of Prom. But despite being sick, they were both hardworking, caring, thoughtful people who always thought about other people before themselves. One uncle became a pharmacist, and it took him YEARS to finish that degree, but he didn't let anything stop him. He was always reading and absorbing tons of knowledge from a variety of sources, and liked to talk about all sorts of brainy things. The other was quiet, soft-spoken, but everyone in town loved him. He would do the x-rays of Halloween candy for kids. My brother -- my brother has a very fancypants job that he got by working super hard and taking lots of chances. he taught himself almost everything he knows about his field, but took classes during his years of college just because he was "supposed to;" he's ridiculously smart and talks about stuff i literally can't understand. but he's the sort who punches people in the face if he notices them trying to sneak off with a drunk/incapacitated chick at a party, and then spends his entire evening making sure someone else doesn't try to sneak off with her. =p My late M - out of nearly everyone, he probably had the greatest effect on me. he was the first non-relative male i felt 100% safe around (especially in the post-resolution-of-the-past phase), and i felt that feeling pretty much instantly with him which was scary in its own way. he was thoughtful, well spoken, an individual who really didn't care what anyone thought of him, and a person who steadfastly kept his word, regardless of what was going on around him. he believed in honesty, and everyone's right to discover and express the truth about who they were, regardless of gender, race, etc. he was a fantastic artist and he loved to read and have complicated discussions about whatever he'd read. he loved kids and would've been a spectacular Dad, too; if only he hadn't died. my Toppy friend -- another hardworking, honest, friendly sort -- he's probably one of the friendliest people i know. he has absolutely no visible social issues; he seems to be comfortable everywhere and has no problem striking up a conversation with people. sometimes he's TOO blunt, but he always generally means well. he'll listen to you cry and blubber on the phone and take you to get ice cream. he's actually quite a bit like M was, which always seemed weird to me, and yet it gives me hope for the future of mankind. =p he's always doing something, there's never really any extended time when he's just sitting around doing absolutely nothing. my last Philosophy professor -- i didn't even want to take that stupid philosophy class, but it was a requirement for my degree. i ended up with a pretty great professor who was able to break down all sorts of nebulous concepts into something more easy to understand. he also encouraged me to pursue philosophy because he thought i would do very well with it. i would never have even considered taking more philosophy classes without his advice and helpful guidance. (there are some others, but i've been hammering away at this for a while)
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