Describe someone who is close to you. What do you admire most about this person?

Someone that I am close to is my father Bruce Sr. Bruce is a 52 year old man that has grown up in a very difficult situation. He grew up with a limited amount of positive and emotional attention. He experienced years of physical, psychological, and emotional abuse. As a child, Bruce was shunned by his biological father and physically abused by his step-father and mother. He attended schools all over Sonoma County until his senior year when he dropped out of school all together. Bruce moved to Portland for a few months where he worked a full time job. After spending time in Portland he decided to move back to California.
When Bruce moved back to Sonoma County he met my mother Cyndi. They got married in February, my mom was four months pregnant. I was born in July of 1980. My parents are still married by law, but have been separated for about 17 years.
My father had brought some good qualities and values to his new family; however, he could not come to grips with the childhood issues or the addictions that he acquired. For ten years, Bruce and Cyndi worked hard at their marriage and developed a solid foundation for my younger sister and I. Soon my mother realized that she needed more support then my father could give her, so they split up. By this time Bruce had become an unemotional husband, an addict and still didn't find the courage to deal with his issues.
After the break up, my sister and I bounced back and forth between parents for about five years. My father suffered an injury from work that was drug related. Around this time my parents decided to break up. Bruce found a support group and began to rehab himself and his body. Other obstacles got in Bruce's way, and he ended up homeless. When he became homeless he surrendered to his addictions that have controlled his life for over 30 years.
Just over the last year Bruce found the strength from within and from friends to clean up his life. He is a roofer and attends support groups. In return, his boss found Bruce a clean & sober house, where the is presently living. Since he found that place to live he has faced some of the issues from his childhood and accepted the outcome of his life. Even though my father has lived a tough and fast life he's managed to be a father to me for my entire lifetime. We have an unbreakable bond, I don't look down on him because of his choices, I talk to him and ask him what he was going through. This helps me to understand his life and his thought process. I admire the perseverance and overcoming the adversity in his life. The changes he decided to make will prolong his life and our bond.