My Happy Father's day.

I got cable today.

I really do not watch tv, but some cable channels are pretty interesting. I starting flipping the channels and stopped at channel 39. Some old cartoon of the Looney Tunes started rolling and i started to remember my childhood.

I don't remember how old I was but i was watching cartoons one day and my dad sat right beside me to watch them with me. I think we were watching 'Tom and Jerry' and he just started laughing. Tom and Jerry were my favorite; they never talked, yet they were able to make me laugh so hard. So I asked my dad, "You like cartoons papi?" And he just turned to me and laughed and simply replied "Yes, of course i do! I will never stop watching them." I remember being glad that my dad was not a grumpy old man and knew how to live life, because back then cartoons were the 'life'. My dad used to buy me a whole collection of videos with "little lulu", "tweety", "Bugs bunny", and so much more...and he used to buy me little race cars. He also bought me a "little mermaid" coloring book one day, which later i found out that it wasn't a coloring book but you had to use a brush with water to color it in.

And he would buy me books, or he would let me read his. And i remember one time at this church where he went to preach he went to where I was playing with the kids and he asked me, "Michel, do you want to feel the Holy Spirit?" I really did not know what he was trying to do but I said yes because anything that my dad thought was good, i would think it was good too. So he led me to the front of the altar where there was another little boy my age, and he was crying really hard. And they put me and him in the middle and there were about five adults all around us praying for us, so that we may "receive" the Holy Spirit. I think they were disappointed when they saw that I could only cry and not do what the other little boy was doing. So they stopped praying over me and i just remember leaving there confused. But my dad was always there, and he would explain it to me later.

I was 14 years old when i received one of his last gifts to me. He gave me two books; i think that is why i value them so much. He knew at the moment that i was going out with my first boyfriend and he wanted me to know everything there was about dating and what the opposite sex were thinking. I remember that day we were eating at this taqueria and he told me that he did not want me to be in a relationship where I was trying to find a father's love. I looked at him and laughed because by no means did i think of my current boyfriend as a father. But he was serious and he told me that he knows that i wasn't with him and that i could easily fall in that situation, where i would want someone older to protect me. He was right. Three months later i broke up with my boyfriend because i realized that i really did not like him, i only had liked him because he was older, and i felt sense of security with him. A security that only a father could give. That last gift of my father helped me so much in my other relationships, and i thank my dad that he was able to open my eyes a little more.

So now i am here writing this, realizing that my dad did do good things in my life. He introduced me to cartoons (which i will never stop watching), my spiritual walk, and was able to protect me from falling into sin...even though it was only through two books. He has made many mistakes...mistakes in which i thought i hated him, and wanted him out of my life forever. But now, i think i am a little more open to the fact that everyone can make mistakes...and everyone is short of His glory...

I'm going to go watch cartoons now...see y'all lata...