On papa's day, from Mechelle: Olajuwons' bond more than basketball - Hakeem never wanted Abi to feel she had to play, but he is thrilled she did

As we celebrate Father's Day, we tend to focus on the idyllic as if it were always attainable, even though we see all around us that it's not. Loving relationships often don't work. Marriages end. Careers become consuming. Children grow in spite of it all.

Abi's parents didn't stay together. Millions of couples don't. And when you add in the travel demands of a professional athlete, which Hakeem was until Abi was in high school, the possibility for an unbridgeable gap developing exists even with the best-intentioned fathers.

"A lot of people don't have great relationships with their fathers," Abi said. "And I look back and appreciate the fact that I did have and still do have a great relationship with my dad.