I just read Leslie's blog. I felt the same thing almost 5 years ago. Truly you won't miss the water till the well runs dry. The sad thing there was that my dad didn't reach in time for my high school graduation. And being the academic person that I WAS, it was important to me that he was there to go up the stage with my mom and do the honors of pinning the medals. There are just some things in life that you just can't control no matter what.

To me, I needed my father during my teenage growing up years. I was 16 then. It was important to me that I have a father during these crucial years where I the world opens up a whole deal to me. It's a lot different having a mom as your guiding star. Moms are usually cautious and they sort of ask you to be on the defensive stance. Dads ask you more to boldly face the world 'coz somehow if you'd fall, he'll be there beside you, strong and firm to back you up. And with the way I run things, I'm the adventurous type.

But now that it already happened I just had to do what I have to do and stop enumerating my "could have beens and my endless IFs". One harsh reality it has brought me was that I learned things the hard way. Fought things head on without knowing what exactly would be the consequences. No one was there to tell me to do this or not to do that because blah blah blah. But the best thing with that is I learned a lot on my own. The lessons are strong and they stick to mind firmly. And I guess somehow the best lesson there is to learn is that: Make good with whatever is given you. That's all there is to it.