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I'm a father myself for the first time in my life, and I had very very loving parents.

So, you know, parenting is a very intimate and amazing experience and one of the best experiences of my life.

I always appreciated that connection between a parent and a kid because I yearned for it so much. Growing up, I wanted a father, and because I've had this idea of what a father should be, it's exciting to finally have the opportunity to try and be that guy, to see if I can actually do it.

My father showed me so much love. He showed my brother so much love. He just, he had a rough life. You know, he grew up in a boys home in the Bronx. He didn't really know his own family. So I couldn't hold it against him that he didn't know how to parent. He didn't know how to be the perfect husband. But he loved as much as he could.

I had a great bond with my father. Even when I was a kid, my bond with my dad made me want to be a father myself one day.

I love my father very much. I attribute so much of the person I am today to the values that he and my mother set for us, and the way they encouraged us every day of our lives to go out and find what we love doing and to fulfill our potential and really be happy.

Mom was the one who taught me unconditional love. With Dad, I'd always felt there was something to live up to - expectations. But in the last year, we had a wonderful relationship.

My mother and my father were very nurturing and wonderful examples of how to live your life.

The grief of losing my father has come in waves over the years, as it does with most people. His love and devotion as a father provided my closest, most intimate relationship. Dad, and our time together, is in my bones. While reflecting on him, the memories themselves seem to boil down into certain 'essences of Dad.'

It's a complicated thing, knowing how much pain my father caused in my life and the lives of others whom I love, yet still holding love for him in my heart. No matter what he did, he was my father. He helped create the person I am.