I think that I\”ve had the most wonderful life.  It all began when I was very young.  My parents gave me a pill and it made me the most perfect person in the world.  I got the highest grades in school.  I went to the most prestigious college in the country.  I even married the perfect woman.  We had two wonderful children and we gave them the same pill to make them perfect, too.  Don\’t you see.  I was able to keep this perfect thing going.

In reality this is not the way it happened.  I did get good grades in school, but I think that was more the result of my nerdiness than anything else.  I did get into one of the city\’s top colleges but, I dropped out in my second year. I did get married but after 23 years we divorced.  I do have 4 great kids( 2 from the first marriage, 2 from the second). There was no magic pill that made me the perfect person.  How then can I become the \”THE PERFECT PARENTTTT\”( the T\’s are the echo.  I hope you get it.)?

I believe that there is no such thing, despite how hard I\’ve try.   I feel I do the best I can do without a manual.  I\’ve made a lot of mistakes but isn\’t that what it\’s all about.  How could I learn without the mistakes?  Some of the things I did with #1 , I don\’t do with the rest.  There were things I did with the rest, I didn\’t do with #1. There was a time when I was a heavy smoker.  Now I\’m well aware of second hand smoke( I stopped smoking 14 years ago).  There was also a time when I was a heavy drinker.  Now I\’m well aware of how drinking can destroy a family( I stopped drinking 19 years ago).

I could go on and on  with the  many mistakes I made over the years.  The one thing it shows is that I\’m not and never will be \” THE PERFECT PARENTTTT\” (I hope you got it this time).  All I can ever hope is to do the best I can do in the moment.  I must,  at different intervals, take a look at what direction I\’m heading in.  Am I going the right way or am I aimlessly plodding along.  In any event I will continue to work hard at this parenting thing and I will leave the perfection for someone else.

I LOVE BEING A DAD!!