{"id":4856,"date":"2021-10-05T09:57:27","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T13:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dubmentality.com\/?p=4856"},"modified":"2021-10-05T09:57:27","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T13:57:27","slug":"the-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/?p=4856","title":{"rendered":"The Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am a lucky man. I\u2019ve lived 44 years on this earth and my dad and mom have always been there for me. No matter what I did, they were there. They weren\u2019t always happy to be in the situation but they never backed down in their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We all have various types of relationships with our families. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. Sometimes we experience all of that in our relationships. I did my absolute best to drive my parents crazy when I was a kid. I broke every bone in my body, climbed everything, jumped off of everything, and tried to eat everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I probably shouldn\u2019t even be here today based on some of the things I did when I was a kid. In my \u201cfinest\u201d moment as a kid, I don\u2019t remember all the details. But I do remember being told my dad was seen sitting on the floor of the hospital, head in hands, crying for me. That level of fear is born out of love for someone. My dad loved me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I was a teenager, I continued my tormenting ways, just with a different means of attack. I pushed buttons. I didn\u2019t do my school work. I grumbled every time I was asked to help work on his truck or tarp a load. I tore up every lawn mower we owned because I wouldn\u2019t pick up sticks or rocks in my path. I left fish in the livewell to be found days later (unintentionally). I interrupted Sunday afternoon naps with constantly going in and out of the front door. I did so much more, but there aren\u2019t enough hours in a day to go through it all. But over the course of those teen years, I always knew my dad loved me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got married and started my young adult life, I called my dad for everything. \u201cWhy is this light flashing on my dash?\u201d \u201cHow do I charge this battery for the boat?\u201d \u201cHow do I get around Atlanta?\u201d \u201cHow long before I have to change my oil?\u201d \u201cMy sink is clogged, what am I supposed to do?\u201d \u201cMy truck is making a weird noise, what is it?\u201d The boat won\u2019t crank, what am I doing wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But every call \u2013 every single one \u2013 he had an answer for me. It didn\u2019t mean that he wouldn\u2019t make fun of me at some point for not knowing that maybe the kill switch was disengaged on the boat and that was why it wouldn\u2019t crank. But he didn\u2019t deny me for not learning more than I should have when I grew up doing all of these things with him when he worked on his truck. He never left me in a bad spot. Because he loved me, and he wanted to see me do well for myself in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t learn how much he loved until I became a father myself. When I became a dad, I realized how debilitating it could be to worry about your kids when they were hurt. The love you have for your kids is all you think about when they are in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I didn\u2019t learn that my dad was right about most everything until I started to argue with my own kids about how important it is to do their homework, or to put their things up when they are done, or to not lose (or break) things that they use that are mine. They grumble when I ask them to do something. They tell me I don\u2019t understand how hard it is to be a teenager. And they usually don\u2019t remember anything I tell them. But my love for them doesn\u2019t waver. I learned that from my dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I think back on it, I\u2019ve learned a ton from my dad. I learned how to fish. I learned how deep to fish in certain temperatures. I learned what color BAB Fly to use depending on how muddy or clear the water was. I learned what a slab is. I learned what a titty bream is. I learned how to clean those fish. I learned all of this from the greatest fisherman in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I learned how to drive. I learned how to change my own oil. I learned how to change a tire. I learned to pick up those sticks when I was mowing. I learned how to trust people and when to be leery. I learned how important credit was. I learned how important honesty was. I learned how valuable it was to have people be able to trust you. I learned to be a man of my word. I learned that from my dad. We are talking about a man that mowed the grass in a dress to pay off a bet we had about the Braves making the World Series in the early 90’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned that Rick Hendrick was a \u201cnasty sucka\u201d. I learned that Terry Labonte didn\u2019t have the nerve to compete with Earnhardt. I learned that the great late 80\u2019s baseball player\u2019s real name was Joe\u2019s CAN-suh-ko. I learned how to throw a curve ball, though never as good as his. I learned that you had to keep your head down on a ground ball, even if you were scared. I learned all of this from a man that outplayed his competition in Sunday Church shoes on the baseball field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned an awful lot from my dad. I learned things from him until this very week. I learned how to fight. I learned how to keep pushing, even when you feel bad. I learned how much he loved my kids and how much they loved him. I learned just how important family is. I\u2019m lucky. I can come to the same house I came to 30 years ago and see what a family is supposed to be based on; believing in God, working for your living, taking care of the people under your roof, and teaching those you\u2019re charged with caring for how to survive in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s what being a dad is all about. And I had the best. If I learned half of what he taught me, I\u2019ll be just fine in my daily walk as a father and husband. He loved my mom. He loved his kids. He worked hard. He took care of those around him. He was honest, trusting, faithful, and a man of his word. I want to be like my dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to miss him a lot. The older we got, the better our relationship got. Because I understood more and more what he was trying to tell me all those years along the way. Love you Dad! A lot of people do. Despite what the seminar taught, a lot of people gave a damn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J-Dub<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a lucky man. I\u2019ve lived 44 years on this earth and my dad and mom have always been there for me. No matter what I did, they were there. They weren\u2019t always happy to be in the situation but they never backed down in their support. We all have various types of relationships … Continue reading “The Legend”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-memories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubmentality.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Dad-5-e1633441268446.jpg?fit=400%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7912A-1gk","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4856"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4868,"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856\/revisions\/4868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubmentality.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}