\n\t\t<\/aside>\nThere were five regular-season dual meets before then. Both my parents worked full-time in the summers, but that didn\u2019t stop my dad from coming to every meet I had. He\u2019d show up straight from the office, dressed in a full suit and tie to watch my races in the peak of summer heat. For three hours, he would switch off between taking calls in the shade of the snack bar and running to the end of my lane to cheer. All the other dads would walk in from their round of golf wearing polo shirts and flip-flops. I thought it was unfair that mine had to come straight from work, but my dad never complained, even when I got his suits all wet when I hugged him after a race.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The day of the championship meet, my dad caught up to me at the car, where I repeatedly yanked on the handle, waiting for him to unlock the doors. Despite my temper tantrum, my dad seemed amused as he watched me with a smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you done?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
He started laughing at my ridiculous behavior and, frankly, it\u2019s always been hard for me to stay mad at my dad, especially when he starts chuckling to himself. I knew I was overreacting, but I was<\/em> frustrated. Reaching that podium had been a goal of mine for so long. All I wanted was to hear my name being announced as I bent down for the medal to be placed around my neck. I had worked so hard, and now that my goal was out of reach for another season, I didn\u2019t know how to react other than climbing into the car and slamming my door shut.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nMy dad took his seat behind the wheel and turned toward me with a sigh. Fearing a reprimand for my bratty behavior, I busied myself by sliding my damp towel beneath my legs, which were already burning against the black leather interior. Once I stopped fidgeting, my dad held his hand out for my giant blue mirrored sunglasses, which I reluctantly handed over with a groan \u2014 forcing me to meet his eyes just before he started on a really, really long speech \u2014 a true pep talk this time. Today, I couldn\u2019t tell you exactly what he said during those ten minutes in the stifling-hot Subaru, but the essence of it is what encouraged me to go back to practice the following Monday and keep on kicking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unfailingly my biggest cheerleader, my dad is an expert at lifting me up when I\u2019m feeling down. I\u2019ve heard the familiar words of his pep talks repeated many times since, but this day in the car was the first time I remember truly hearing them. Thankfully, his message hasn\u2019t changed much over the years. While I can\u2019t recall his exact words, it went something like this:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be someone better than you, but that\u2019s why you can\u2019t focus on what everyone else is doing. You\u2019ll drive yourself crazy thinking about how unfair it is that some people do better than those who work just as hard or even much harder. It\u2019s not just about the end result. At the end of the day, all you can do is your best. Did you do your best out there today? Good, then that\u2019s all you can ask for. As for me? I really could not be more proud of who you are, how hard you try and what you have accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad, this is what went through my head when I finally stood on the top of the podium after 10 hard years of trying. This is what I thought about after I bombed my first SAT and after I received my rejection from my top choice for college. It\u2019s what runs through my head when I walk out of an economics midterm feeling discouraged and when I worry about my career plans and future job. It\u2019s what I heard in my head after I won the MVP trophy in the summer league and when I was elected captain of my high school swim team many years later. It\u2019s what I think about when I\u2019m frustrated or proud or feel like giving up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nThe day I got accepted to the University of Michigan, all the hard work paid off. I remember this day vividly. You were exasperated with work and we were already late leaving for a road trip. But when I ran into the room with my news, you looked up from your computer, pushed away from the desk and wrapped me up in a hug. It felt just like finally winning a race.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hours later, staring out the window of the passenger seat, I remembered my silly tantrum in the parking lot. I thought about that day of disappointment, the heat of the black pavement on my bare feet and your unwavering support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dad, I love you so much. I\u2019ll always look up to you and I hope to have even half of your patience, compassion and selflessness someday. From you, I\u2019ve learned so much about what it means to learn and to love.<\/p>\n
The biggest lesson I\u2019ve learned? It\u2019s that, at the end of the day, there may always be someone out there who\u2019s better than me, but I should never let that stop me from being, and becoming, my best self.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Happy Father\u2019s Day, Dad! Thank you for always believing in me.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nLove,<\/p>\n
Your Sunshine<\/p>\n
Statement Contributor Rory Paterniti can be reached at <\/em>rorypat@umich.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n
Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be someone better than you, kid.\u201d I can still hear my dad\u2019s maddening words echoing in my head. As an overly competitive 12-year-old, I couldn\u2019t stand hearing this comment after another long race \u2014 and another loss. Didn\u2019t my dad believe in me? I put 110% effort into my swimming, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1703,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions\/1703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}