Father's day: a thread

As a kid when the subject of fathers came up I would shuffle nervously and announce. "I don't have a dad."

And that was true. Kinda. See my biological dad was out of the picture. Save for 3 painful visits in 18 years. What I did have was Grandad.

Grandad was my father figure. He owned cool cars, driven motorbikes and was one of the best carpenters in Essex. He was also a bit of a lad in his day.

He enjoyed sports.

Eventually he found the love of his life. My nan. They married on Valentines day was were together for nearly 40 years. Each morning nan would get up at 5am and make his lunch and each evening he'd come home and kiss her on the forehead. They were never apart from each other.

They couldn't have their own children but they wanted to raise a family so they adopted two children. A boy and a girl, my mum, and made the journey to live in Australia.

Decades pass and the family now lived back in the UK. Mum was pregnant. It was the 80s and a white woman having a mixed race child was still considered awkward if not inappropriate for a majority white area. My nan, when told the news was apprehensive. Grandad?

"if he's yours Lisa(mum) he's ours. I can't wait to meet him."

Yup. Grandad was woke. And so we met. Not pictured is the scene where he's holding an ice cream: looking down, and sayong, "it'd be funny if I dropped thi--"

Yes folks. He dropped an ice cream on a baby's head.

He was so much more than a Grandad. His supporting my football. His old spice & brylcreem. His love of F1.

His name was Don, I proudly have it as my middle name today. I lost him when I was ten.

He was, and forever will be my dad. Love you pops.