Mother's Day 2016 was the first since Joey Feek's passing, but it wasn't Rory Feek's first as a single dad. In a new blog post, the Joey + Rory singer remembers his late wife and muses on single fatherhood -- something he knows well.

For more than a decade, before marrying Joey Feek, Rory Feek raised daughters Heidi and Hopie as a single dad.

"I can’t tell you I was a great father. I tried. I think was a good father, but the truth is I was still a young man struggling to find myself, while the girls were growing and finding out who they were. I made so many mistakes and was so selfish. At times I was more concerned about being a great songwriter than being a great father," Feek writes. "In a lot of ways, I think the girls raised me while I was raising them. But they were so forgiving and loved me unconditionally. They still do."

Still, Feek says, he loved (and still loves) being a dad -- and that's something that Joey Feek loved about him. And although she admired her husband's parenting skills, when Feek learned that her cancer was terminal, she "cried and cried ... because [the Feeks' daughter] Indy was going to lose her mama, and I was going to be a single father again."

"Joey knew how hard it had been for us for all those years before she came along, and she was upset that she was going to leave me in the same situation," Rory Feek explains. "Though I was worried about the reality of what was probably in our future, I tried to smile as I wiped Joey’s tears and said, 'It’s okay honey … now we know why God chose me to be with you.' I realized then that God knew what was in store, and all those years by myself with the girls was Him preparing me for the job of caring for Indiana."

The Feeks are slowly adjusting to their life without their matriarch, but on Mother's Day (and every day), they will continue to honor and remember her. Even though she is not physically present, Rory Feek says, "she is still Indy's mama. And Heidi's and Hopie's. And she is part of them."

"I still see Joey beside [Indy]. With us. Everywhere we go," Feek admits. "When I look into her little eyes … all I see is love. And her mama, and her sisters ... and the incredible second chance I’ve been given to be a father."

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