Happy Father's Day

It's Father's Day.... And my fiance has to work both jobs today :( The joy of working 2 restaurant jobs......

I met my fiance through my aunt Lori. in 2004 she was dating a guy named Joe and his best friend was Alan. Lori and Joe decided that Alan and I had a few things in common and would make a good couple.... It turns out that they were right!

Alan and I before kids -- 

My fiance has 5 kids, including our 2 daughters. CW is 14, MJ is 10, Bre is 11(who we NEVER see and probably won't for MANY years! That's a different post for another day...), Loran is 7 and then there's Jade who is 6! Alan and I have been together since I was a teenager, October will make 9 years. He has always had a job and never once gave up on his parenting jobs. He pays child support for his two boys and is the main bread winner in our household of 4: Alan, myself and our 2 daughters. At the moment, Alan works 2 jobs and they both just happen to be restaurants (Good restaurants though – Red Lobster and Applebee's). Which means he works a lot of doubles along with mandatory holidays at both jobs.... Including: Father's Day, Valentines Day, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, New Years and many more... sometimes even Christmas Eve. There are days that I don't see Alan until 2 or 3am! But when he is off, he spends his spare time with the girls. No, we don't have any extra money to go on vacation or to buy new clothes and sometimes we barley scrape past the bills on-time. We've moved many times since the girls have been born but the residence we're at now is the longest we've lived at so far. (We almost moved at tax time but had a change of plans... Next tax season will be a new home for sure!! I'm not as happy in this neighborhood as I was this time last year.) Even though we have bounced around and had a pretty rough life, Alan has almost never been without a job since we've been together. I worked full time at Blimpie's Subs and Salads (sometimes being the only employee other than the owners) from the age of 16 until three days before my oldest daughter was born, when I was 18! The shop closed down while I was on maternity leave so I wasn't able to get another job until after I had Jade in 2007. I've worked at Toys'R'Us and Ingles since the girls have been born but I have been a stay at home mom for about 4 or 5 years now and Alan has never complained much.

He works his butt off for hours, standing on his feet while dealing with continued back pain (When I was pregnant with Loran, Alan worked for a big construction company. He was on a grading crew but they were also one of the only railroad crews and it really did a number on his back. Not to mention that his feet could REALLY use more arch support!) Even though most of Alan's hours are spent at work and most of Alan's checks go to Child Support and Bills, Our little family is still standing on our feet!

Yes, it's been very tough to stay together at times along with staying on our feet but with Alan's hard work and my continued determination to be a strong mom and over come the thoughts of feeling like “a single parent with an overworked roommate”... We have climbed every mountain that has stretched before us and crossed every river that has tried to drag us under. I couldn't do this without Alan. He's my other half and I love him more than I could ever explain!

Even though there was a possibility that Alan already had a daughter in his hometown (Lenior, Hickory, Hudson area...) but didn't know for sure.... he was convinced that his little swimmers couldn't make baby girls! So when I got pregnant, Alan was not expecting to hear the doctor tell us, twice, that we were expecting a daughter! Those baby girls that Alan never thought he would have, has become his pride and joy. Nothing can beat a bond between a loving daddy and his little girls... Not even a few late nights at work! I couldn't of chosen a better father for my daughters!

Happy Father's Day Alan W!!!!! I love you more that you will ever know.

Did you do anything special or planning something special for the outstanding Father's in your life??

Share your stories below and I'll make a feature Father's post soon!