As Father's Day approaches, I think more and more of my Sam. He was a wonderful father, although he had no role model for fatherhood. His father was caught in the chaos of alcoholism for most of Sam's growing up. When he was sober, he was kind and sweet; but when he was drinking, he enjoyed abuse(physical and verbal) and thought nothing of letting the neighbors know how dysfunctional the family was by doing all sorts of crass things outside the house, yelling, screaming, cursing. One of the favorite activities of Sam and his siblings was finding their father's stash of liquor and hiding it in bushes around the house where he could not find it.
Sam, on the other hand, somehow developed a model for fatherhood that has been copied by his son. He loved playing with Brandon (actually, I think that Sam never grew up inside), he abhorred abuse of any kind, and reveled in the accomplishments of his son. Yes, I would say that he passed down very good models. I pray that Brandon's Sam will carry on the new tradition.
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