Let’s hear it for the boy

The Disney Channel used to be great. The cartoons, the movies...all of it was good. As time passed, the programming changed. Now I hate it. Men, and fathers in particular, are portrayed as bumbling idiots. They are the butts of every joke. Their wives and children roll their eyes at the dumb things these men do. I'd like to challenge this portrayal of fathers, especially my own father.My thoughts have been swirling around memories of my dad this week. The more I remember, the more grateful I am for his influence on my life.My dad was proud of me, and I loved it. Amazingly, his pride in me seemed inherent and was, quite frankly, undeserved. I was not a prodigy of anything. I had no unique skills or impressive talents. Until age 14, I competed in gymnastics. My dad came to everything. He cheered me on. And I was not awesome. I wasn't even good. I just recently found a piece of paper with my gymnastics' results crudely scribbled down. I got a 5.0 on the beam. A FIVE. That is out of 10.0! What? (Feel free to take a moment and laugh here. It's ridiculous). My inadequacy isn't the point. My parents came to watch me do something I loved, successfully or not, and my confidence grew because of it.Dad believed I could do anything I wanted to do. In 1994, I performed in my first folk dance show. I was on one of the beginning teams. After the show, he was there, congratulating me. Then he said, "So when are you going to be on this team?" He pointed to the pictures of the touring group of folk dancers---the best team. That was my plan! His belief in my abilities created an unstoppable drive to be the best. He had high expectations, and I worked hard to reach them. Truthfully, I fell short all the time. But his confidence in me buoyed me up. He knew I could do better before I did. My failures weren't failures to him. He fueled my fire to keep trying, keep working, keep going. I could do anything. His confidence became my confidence.As I got older, I watched his relationship with my mom. He loved my mom. They went places together...always. He knew my mom was oh-so-capable, and he didn't get in the way of that. They were equals. They were partners. Because of their example, I knew exactly what I was looking for in a spouse. I wanted a man who looked at me the way my dad saw my mom. And when I met Brian, I knew I had found him.My new normal is one without my dad. But his confidence and belief in me lives on. Even without him physically here, I know I can do anything.Cmon, Disney. Get it right.