DUers, what did your dad do or say during your childhood that has influenced how you live

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173. Thanks, malaise! Love you!

Mind you, that is not to say my dad was awful. Far from it. But he was VERY human, in many ways quite predictable, and I know he did love me mightily - even as damaged as he himself was, emotionally and spiritually. His dad ran out on the family when he was a toddler. He was raised by a grandma who was rather unconventional and an iconoclast and a true "uppity" woman, because the lack of dad meant mom had to go to work - so she was not a constant presence in his life, either. He grew up as quite the hell-raiser. Made it somehow - and with no help but his own wits and iron will, and he did okay, for the most part. Believe me, the message on that plaque has certainly helped me manage my son's band! And it's one of the reasons they made it into the Warped Tour after four years of constant work and struggle as an independent band with no big record label backing or big-ass investors behind us, and having to wade through ever-present pools of obstruction, naysayers, liars, and bullshitters.