From that day forward, it was just Dad and me.
The Man Everyone Called Hawk
My father’s real name was Daniel.
Almost nobody called him that.
Everyone knew him as Hawk.
He earned the nickname because of his eyes.
They were sharp, watchful, and constantly moving.
He noticed everything.
If I walked into a room upset, he knew before I said anything.
If someone made me uncomfortable, he noticed.
If I was hiding something, he usually figured it out.
He was a big man with a gray beard that he often braided.
During the week, he worked construction.
On weekends, he rode with the Iron Guardians MC, a motorcycle club whose members had become like extended family to me.
To strangers, Dad could look intimidating.
But inside our house, he was gentle.
He made pancakes on Sunday mornings.
He helped me with homework.
He attended school plays.
He sat through parent-teacher conferences.
When I had my first heartbreak, he didn’t tell me to “get over it.”
He sat beside me on the porch and listened.
When I scraped my knee, he cleaned the wound and pretended it wasn’t serious because he knew I hated being fussed over.
When I succeeded, he celebrated like I had won the greatest prize in the world.
My father wasn’t perfect.
But he was there.
Always.
My First Motorcycle
When I turned sixteen, Dad gave me something I will never forget.
It wasn’t a brand-new motorcycle.
It wasn’t expensive.
It was a Honda Shadow 750 that needed plenty of work.
He had found it cheaply because it had been sitting unused for years.
For the next two years, we rebuilt it together.
Every weekend, we worked in the garage.
Sometimes we argued.
Sometimes we got frustrated.
Sometimes we spent hours trying to solve a problem that turned out to have a ridiculously simple answer.
But I loved every minute.
That motorcycle became more than transportation.
It became a symbol of my relationship with Dad.
Every part we repaired represented another lesson.
Patience.
Discipline.
Trust.
And never giving up simply because something looks broken.