Dads Who Get It – Part 3: The Glove That Fit

This is a personal story.  Today, I’m going to tell you about my Uncle.  He is a dad who gets it.  He stood in the gap for me, and modeled who a man is.  He is my uncle by marriage on my mom’s side, and he and my Aunt have always been like second parents to me.  Words cannot express what wonderful people they are.  I used to spend a lot of time with them in the summers when I was growing up.  To me, they were the model family – one that stuck together no matter what.  I never wondered if they were going to “make it.”  They were like a rock in an uncertain world.  I knew they would always be there, no matter what.  They always went to church.  When Sunday morning rolled around, there was no question as to whether we were going or not.  That was instrumental for me later on as our niece came to live with us and I was faced with how to raise a child.  I wanted to follow their lead. 

My Uncle always did stuff with us.  In fact, all the neighborhood kids would flock to their house because my Uncle would come out and play basketball or baseball or tag or whatever we were doing.  My cousin, who has always been like a brother to me, and I were talking just a few months ago about these things.  I was telling him how I believed fatherlessness is one of the greatest issues facing our nation.  I jokingly said to him that I was so sorry he had to deal with that issue growing up.  I kinda got choked up as we reminisced about all the things we had done with his dad.  He said his dad was always at his games and school functions.  In fact, he said that even at the ”away games” he was sometimes the only one in the bleachers on the visitor’s side.  I don’t know how he did it because he had a pretty demanding job, but he always managed to find time for his kids and a lot of other kids, like me, too.  I think my Aunt once told me that one of the kids came to the door and asked if my Uncle could come out and play.

In the summers, our favorite past time was baseball.  My cousin and I would take on the neighborhood kids and were undefeated.  I would go to a lot of his little league games when I would visit.  We were big Atlanta Braves fans (and still are to this day).  Dale Murphy, Claudell Washington, Chris Chambliss, Gene Garber… oh, the days.  To this day, baseball is still my favorite sport.  Anyway, that’s to preface the reason for the subtitle of this blog… 

When I was young and my dad would sometimes pick me up on Sundays to go to his place, the thing we did the most was play catch.  He gave me one of his old gloves.  It was huge, but it was the only one I had.  I went to visit my Aunt and Uncle one summer and had the glove with me.  My uncle, without saying anything, took me down and bought me a glove that fit.  He even wrote my name on it.  I’ll never forget that.  In fact, I still have both gloves (picture included).  I think of it like this:  He was there for me during the critical years, spending time with me and modeling manhood and fatherhood, which my own father failed to do.  I wasn’t yet ready for my dad to leave.  There were so many things he still needed to teach me.  He left me with a life that I had not yet grown into, which I relate to the glove that didn’t fit.  My uncle was there to stand in the gap and be the “glove that fit” until I could grow into manhood and make it on my own.  Yes, today, the glove he bought no longer fits and the glove my dad gave me does.  However, that smaller glove was critical in teaching me how to use the larger one later.  I still look up to my uncle and I have forgiven my dad.  Someday, at the right times, I’ll pass those gloves on to my own son.  I’m sure he’ll need even a smaller one to start with…  I usually don’t drop names on my blog, but my family knows who I’m talking about.  Thank you, Bubby (my nickname for him), for being a dad who gets it, and for stepping in for me during a critical time of my life with the glove that fit.  Thank you for taking me to church and for all the times you did things with us.  Thank you for making me one of your own.  I love you.  May God continue to bless you and your family!