My dad's "other children" ;)

Because my Dad had plenty of room in his heart, whenever he would hear from me that a friend of mine was estranged from their family, he would basically 'adopt' them and consider them his children, too <3  You had to see the nurses when - one of the times he was in the hospital - all of us, different races, within approx. the same age bracket, showed up and said we were the daughters of Arthur Waseck ;)~~~  "He must have been plenty busy!" one nurse said to another ;)~~

Dad also adopted and considered his own anyone who was a good friend of mine, which leads me to repeat this funny story:

I had a friend named Doug.  Doug was black.  And Doug started a job in the training area of a computer store.

One day, a few of his coworkers came back into his room, and they were all giving him a funny look - maybe the look you give a fellow employee that you've just found out is the lottery winner ;) - and finally they said, "We didn't know you were partially white!"

Doug was actually caught completely off-guard - finally he said, "I'm not!  My father's from Richmond, Va, my mother's from Jamaica -- no, guys, really! - oh wait a minute --"

My father, the little white-haired Polish man, had walked into the store and asked if he could please see his son .... ;)

That was my Dad!!!!  Here's the thing:  it wasn't just a label - it was an identification he took to heart.