Door of Love from a REAL Father

To love as a REAL father is to make your heart a revolving door.
                                                                                                  Antonio T. Harvey


As I reflect on the quote above, I ponder about the first door of love that I walked through, as a child.  The door I walked through as a child swung back and forth very actively.  On the other side of that door, always stood my mother Theresa G. Isom.  She has held that door for me a very long time, through my infancy as a young mother she had the courage and determination to have a child.  In my youth, she allowed me to grow up in a positive household and upheld a strong standard of morality.  She never allowed me to see her dealing with a lot of men and never brought any knuckleheads around me.  She raised me in church and allowed me to experience life.  She made sacrifices to ensure that I would be successful as a "Black Men" (This is the term she uses to describe me).  In my adulthood and manhood, she has been there as a coach,mentor,cheerleader and fan to provide needed guidance and support when necessary (i.e. divorce, parenting , finance, job, and etc).  As I write and reflect  on my life experiences , I am flabbergasted by the work she has put in to help create the life that I live now as a father, a son, a Black man and as man of God.    Over the years, she has taught me many lessons like how to tie a tie, how to dress, how to carry myself in public and even how to put up a ceiling fan (we just did that together the other day).  She reinforced to me to never be a weak man and hold my head up proudly in any situation.  She taught me to treat people with kindness, but to never be a pushover.  She taught me to work harder than the person standing in front of me and to put forth more effort so I could excel.  I saw her GRIT and it gave me my GRIT.  The most important thing she thought me was to love God and love myself.
So, it is befitting that on this Mother's Day that I thank you for opening the "Door of Love" for me.

Now, I am a doorkeeper to my children.  Those same lessons that you taught me are the same lessons that I am teaching Nia and Noah , but of course with my own spin.   In closing, I know to truly be a REAL father that loves you have to have a REAL mother that loved you.  I want to thank you Theresa G. Isom for being my doorkeeper and I appreciate you for letting me in every time I knock on your DOOR.