Personal Childhood Web- Buddy

When I was two years old, my mother married a wonderful man who I called Buddy. He became my second father, totally different from my biological father. My real father was born in New York, a college grad, well read, and loved to wear fancy suits. Buddy was an over-all wearing farmer, who read at a fifth grade level, and rarely combed his hair. But he was real, in every sense of the word. Full of common sense and good will, he taught me how to be smart in the real world, always working hard and standing up for my rights. Even though my real father was always in my life, Buddy was the dad that I sat at the dinner table with and talked about my day to. He truly raised me to be a respectful individual, trying to teach me everything he could. I he always treated me as if I were his biological daughter. He made my childhood in southern KY magical by bringing my mother and I to live on the farm . When he was 18 years old he was badly burned in a factory fire. 30% of his body was scarred from his burns. The funny thing is that I did not notice his burns, they were invisible to me because I knew the man that he was. He taught me that appearance is not as important as the person inside. When we would go places, people would look at the two of us and stay, "She must have gotten her looks from her mother..." We would just laugh and smile at each other. In August of 2010, Buddy was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. During the next seven months our family worked hard to overcome this battle. He was strong, brave, and bold living life to the fullest. He passed away April 8th, 2011 with my mother and myself by his side. As the man that I would call when I needed advise, needed reassurance, or just needed to talk it is still strange that he is not here. It is hard to go on when such an important person in your life is missing. Somewhere, he is smiling at the fact that I am about to finally get my college degree. But his spirit and influence are still with me today, telling me to stay strong and achieve my dreams.