My dad was a proper old English gentleman, even though he was from the Caribbean. He used to stand up and salute during the Queen’s Christmas speech.
My dad constantly tells me I should calm down, but I feel so sad when I see places I’ve known since I was a child closing. I burst out crying when a local pharmacy closed the other day; it’s just going to become a shop that nobody has much of a need for. But I am trying to move with the times.
The first real concert, other than going with my dad to see Three Dog Night, was Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage. I was fourteen or fifteen. I liked Shirley Manson because she reminded me of Annie Lennox. They both have these deep, sexy, powerful alto voices.
Dad was the only adult male I ever trusted.
My Dad has been on board for the entire project. He has produced Hello’ and made sure that everything is just right this time.
People’s behavior is not always changed based on a loss. I remember my dad or my uncle used to say, ‘If that guy’s picking on you, punch him once in the face, and he’ll never come back again.’ I don’t know how true that is.
My dad had this thing – everyone in Canada wants to play hockey; that’s all they want to do. So when I was a kid, whenever we skated my dad would not let us on the ice without hockey sticks, because of this insane fear we would become figure skaters!
My mother is very emotional as well, but my dad is more of the guts of the family. He was the main preacher, so he kind of had this little Pentecostal flair, but they are born-again.
My mom and dad were ‘helicopter parents,’ literally. Meaning, I didn’t have a nanny, so I went up in the helicopter. My entire early childhood education consisted of tagging along while they reported on car accidents, multiple-alarm fires, and shootouts.
That is the thankless position of the father in the family – the provider for all, and the enemy of all.
As Daddy said, life is 95 percent anticipation.
My father was the guy on the block who said hi to everyone.
My dad was so much fun growing up.
There’s sometimes a weird benefit to having an alcoholic, violent father. He really motivated me in that I never wanted to be anything like him.
My dad was a football player – a soccer player – for Manchester United, and I loved playing football, but I also happened to be the guy in class who was pretty good at sight reading. My teacher gave me scripts, and I was very comfortable.
My dad used to call me ‘the dreamer.’ He was right.
I like Taiwanese food, of course. I like baguettes, especially the ones that my dad buys. Vancouver has a lot of variety, with pizza, hot dogs, Italian, Indian, seafood – a great combination of culture.
My dad was the manager at the 45,000-acre ranch, but he owned his own 1,200-acre ranch, and I owned four cattle that he gave to me when I graduated from grammar school, from the eighth grade. And those cows multiplied, and he kept track of them for years for me. And that was my herd.
My dad is a good dad.
My dad makes me breakfast every morning; he’s very worried about my nutrition.
My dad said, ‘Stay humble, and you gotta work harder than everybody else.’ My mom said, ‘Always be yourself.’ She always told me only God can judge me.
My dad always taught me never to give up in my mind. You can never really beat me. It sounds ridiculous, but I will always come back for you. You can’t beat someone who never gives up. I could lose 100 times to you, but I will always get you. I will die trying. This applies not only to swimming but to my life as well.
The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.
I’ve got high standards when it comes to boys. As my dad says, all girls should! I’m from the South – Tennessee, to be exact – and down there, we’re all about southern hospitality. I know that if I like a guy, he better be nice, and above all, my dad has to approve of him!
If it wasn’t for my sport and my father, I’d probably be a fallen statistic. I’d be dead; I’d be in jail. Luckily, I had a great dad in my life.
Because Dad was famous, I was so used to being identified as ‘John Huston’s daughter’ that I couldn’t think of myself as anyone else.
My dad was a movie star. Having that name was good and bad. People think it’s a silver spoon. It’s not.
A lot of people don’t realize this, but probably the one person that gets made fun of in ‘South Park’ more than anybody is my dad. Stan’s father, Randy – my dad’s name is Randy – that’s my drawing of my dad; that’s me doing my dad’s voice. That is just my dad. Even Stan’s last name, Marsh, was my dad’s stepfather’s name.
I’m not sure what the future holds but I do know that I’m going to be positive and not wake up feeling desperate. As my dad said ‘Nic, it is what it is, it’s not what it should have been, not what it could have been, it is what it is.’
My family loves movies. My dad and I used to eat a huge breakfast, and then we’d just go hang out at the theater all day together. We loved movies like ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘James Bond.’ We were both big action-adventure movie fans. So I kind of grew up with an appreciation for film.
I’m from a single-parent family. My mom is like my mom and dad. She’s my world.
I was just a toddler when my dad died in a car crash. With my mum, Eunice, being a young widow with a large family, she really struggled money-wise.
I hope I am remembered by my children as a good father.
I think it’s easiest to teach by example. My dad didn’t tell us to work hard; we just saw how hard he worked. I know I have shortcomings – like a short fuse – but I’ve learned you can’t come home from a long day of work and snap at the kids.
When I used to do musical theatre, my dad refused to come backstage. He never wanted to see the props up close or the sets up close. He didn’t want to see the magic.
My dad has given me the best gift anyone has ever given me. He gave me wings to fly.
My dad was an Arsenal supporter and he used to take me there, but I’ve always been Chelsea.
I remember reading the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad,’ and I remember writing my goals down, and my number one goal in life was just to be a good husband and a good father someday. That was number one, as a 17-year-old kid.
Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that’s why I call you dad, because you are so special to me. You taught me the game and you taught me how to play it right.
I was born and raised in Southall; we had two houses which we made into one big one because there were 12 of us living there: me and my bro, my parents, my grandparents, and my dad’s brother’s family.
Thirteen, 13 children, and I love – I love them all. And I think I’ve been a good father to all of them.
My dad has sayings for days. ‘You bloom where you’re planted’ ties into farming, but it also sums up the ideals and morals that we have as a family by staying in Firebaugh.
I’m half Telugu. My mom is Telugu and dad, a Maharashtrian. I was brought up in Gwalior. I was exposed to English, Hindi, and Marathi. I heard my mom speak to her family in Telugu, so I got the hang of it.
I’m a dad and a husband, and so the things that I love to do are all geared around my family.
My mom’s a Catholic, and my dad’s a Jew, and they didn’t want anything to do with anything.
If you think back to the first sporting event you went to, you don’t remember the score, you don’t remember a home run, you don’t remember a dunk. You remember who you were with. Were you with your mom, your dad, your brother, on a date?
Fathers are biological necessities, but social accidents.
I was who I was in high school in accordance with the rules of conduct for a normal person, like obeying your mom and dad. Then I got out of high school and moved out of the house, and I just started, for lack of a better term, running free.
I have six brothers and sisters. My mother has six kids from two different marriages. And we would just sit around making fun of each other’s dad, and all our dads had real problems.
My dad was in the army. World War II. He got his college education from the army. After World War II he became an insurance salesman. Really, I didn’t know my dad very well. He and my mother split up after the war. I was raised by my maternal grandmother and grandfather, and by my mother.
My mum was raised Jewish, my dad is very scientifically minded, and my school was vaguely Christian. We sang hymns in school. I liked the hymns bit, but apart from that, I can take it or leave it. So I had lots of different influences when I was younger.
Mom was so funny and loving to us kids. She was our first audience. When my dad died, I was suddenly alone in the house with her because my two older brothers were away at college. I was the man of the house, and she was the grieving woman.
Dad was, is, and always will be one of the kindest, most generous, gentlest souls I’ve ever known, and while there are few things I know for certain right now, one of them is that not just my world but the entire world is forever a little darker, less colorful, and less full of laughter in his absence.
My parents have a ridiculous work ethic; my dad just works, works, works, works, works. I think it would be hard to find a guy who’s logged more hours than that guy.
A father’s disappointment can be a very powerful tool.
