A few years ago I got to know a truly wonderful man called Mark, who helped and encouraged me through those difficult times that confuse so many teenage girls. He was always calm, and reassuring, ready to listen, even when I didn't know what I was trying to say. I suppose he was my father figure, in the beginning, something I felt I was missing, that most of my girlfriends seemed to have, but my Dad had left us when I was very young. I have a few fleeting memories of Dad, but what I wanted at that time was a male perspective on some of the things that puzzled, and worried me. Don't get me wrong, Mom has done a truly marvellous job of bringing me up on her own, answered all of my questions (even when it was "No, most certainly not!"), and to this day she is my very best friend in the whole world. However, I knew that she could only give me her view on things, tinged with all the usual feminine characteristics, and I needed the logical male approach to balance things up. Mom gave very good advice, and I could always see her reasoning behind it, partly because we are very similar, so she would always strike a chord with me. I was even prepared to do things I didn't like, such as ballet and swimming, because she thought they would be good for me, and she was right. Not that I always liked doing them, ballet was really hard work, my feet hurt, and the stretches were agony some times. Swimming made a mess of my hair, and my eyes stung like hell for months when I started, but we soon sorted those problems out, and as I improved, I got to love being on the swim team.
Mark's contributions were sometimes quite different
Hugs from Katie
:)
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