Who do you get your strength from?

People who know me well enough know that I can get hooked on watching TV series till the last episodes of each season or Pinoy teleseryes (Filipino television drama series) with mushy and dramatic stories. So it is no wonder that while watching one of my favorite teleseryes, I got stuck by a simple one-liner question gleaned from one of the episodes..."who do you get your strength from?" The lead actor and his family were going through a crisis and this lead actor emphasized that he was getting his strength to cope from his fiance (the lead actress).
Like all crises in our lives we weather and get through them with a combination of our own self fortitude and inner strength and of course from the support of our family and loved ones. And the one-liner question I asked myself was ...who do you get I get my strength from? And that is the person who has been the wind behind my wings since I was born....

Ohhhh, oh, oh, oh, ohhh.
It must have been cold there in my shadow,
To never have sunlight on your face.
You were content to let me shine, that's your way.
You always walked a step behind.
So I was the one with all the glory,
While you were the one with all the strength.

A beautiful face without a name for so long.
A beautiful smile to hide the pain.
Did you ever know that you're my hero,
And everything I would like to be?

I can fly higher than an eagle,
For you are the wind beneath my wings.
It might have appeared to go unnoticed,
But I've got it all here in my heart.

I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it.
I would be nothing without you.

Did you ever know that you're my hero?
You're everything I wish I could be.
https://youtu.be/jorJh8DTMVM

Whenever I hear this Bette Midler song, it always takes me to my childhood days and how I was a total Daddy's girl and could not live a day without Daddy around. I remember crying myself to sleep when I thought of one day, Daddy dying and not being there for me anymore. It is funny to recall now how I created my own nightmare in my own head before I went to bed that I would lose Daddy. Such childhood and childish foolishness.

My Dad has always been my hero. I know that I get my strength from him and learned to handle and live life like him. He and Mom too are the sum total of who and what shaped me to be the person I am now. For that I am forever grateful to have such great and wonderful parents and am blessed to have been raised by these two special people. Mom is gone now but Dad is still with us, still living a meaningful 84 years made out from the unconditional love he has in his heart for all his loved ones; hard grit and hard experiences throughout his life, starting from his unhappy but very private childhood; to back breaking and tough jobs to support his kids, silent tears and internal unspoken heart breaks for when he sees his kids go through tough times and are in pain or in trouble. He has been through his own personal challenges both as a son, husband, father and grandfather. 

He is now 84, still hale and hearty, healthwise... but now drifts between remembering and forgetting people, events, memories and having a conversation with him now requires a lot of patience. He was someone who you could talk to about anything and everything under the sun. He used to read 5-6 newspapers a day, read books and Time magazine daily. He was a walking encyclopedia and always had an answer to every question. It was a marvel for someone new to meet and talk to Dad because he was a fascinating conversationalist who always had something interesting to say but at the same time was a keen and avid listener to the person he was in conversation with.  

I talk in the past tense with regards to some of Dad's attributes because he is now is in the twilight of his years and though is thankfully still healthy for his age, he has slowed down a lot and we all know that his time up on this earth is nearing.  While he is still with us, he will always be my angel without wings. But Dad was no saint and he had his own share of bad decisions. Who doesn't? But no matter the bad decisions Dad has made in his life and the consequences he is living in from those bad decisions, and even if he is not the strong, decisive person he was before old age faded all that, he will always be my hero and he will always be the wind beneath my wings. I would not have earned my wings, learned to fly and soar high if he was not beneath my wings to help, support, care and love me unconditionally as my father.