The voices are familiar, as a fat baby screams playfully and wiggles on the screen. Her
hair is unforgettable curly and the never ending smile on her face is caused by the huge yet
gentle hands that are tickling her feet. It is their normal play time; after he returns from a long
days work. With just one glance at the look on his face, it is undeniable that she is his pride and
joy, and despite the fact that minutes ago he was completly drained, he will be sure to keep up
his end of this nightly tradition, because for him the time with her is worth missing an extra hour
of sleep.
It is a feeling that comforts me when I am forced back to reality and the truth hits just as
hard as it did the first time. I am the little girl on the TV screen, fast forward 15 years, and that
strong but gentle man is gone forever.
My father passed away suddenly on December 2, 2009. He was the rock in my life;
always there to support me , there for me regardless of how bad or good the decisions I made
were. His passing shook me to my core, it was the second and closest passing to me in three
years. Death is one of those things that if you let it can drag you down to a point of no return.
And I knew even in the night it happened if I wasn’t careful, this could ruin the person my father
had helped create along with all the potential, ideals, and values we had spent so many years
building. It was then that I decided that I would learn from the situation, and it was from this
situation that I learned what was truely important to me.
In the years that followed my fathers passing, there have been many highs and low.
But despite it all I have perceviered and persisted to my goals. My father died with little that he
set off to do unaccomplished ( St. marteen for his 50th birthday, the Mercedes CLS as his new
toy car, having “his girls” happy -a nickname my mother, my sister and I were well known by
even in public- and a vast group of close friends and family), and with this exaple I have known
that I have big shoes too fill. And always there for me, helping me to reach the potential and
accomplish the goals I have set for myself is my family.
Family has always been a major part of my life. I grew up looking forward to BBQs and
movie night at my aunts. We were always silently there for one another, lending a helping had
when asked. But since the passing of my father, the bond that once held us together has been
strengthened to a point before unseen. I can no longer imagine a day that I did not simply hear
from my cousin Corbin for a simple”watsup”, or a week where my Grandmothers voice was
not resonating from my voicemail with her just checking. After the loss of the person, who’s
job it once was to keep us all connected we have all stepped up and taken the responsibilty of
keeping ourselves connected adnd involved in each others lives.
The passing of my father has made it obviously apparent to me that family is the most
important this in my life. From them and with them everything else lines up and falls into place.
My education, then encourage and support me with. Emotional issues, they are always there
to listen and help me with my problems. Bored, my Aunt Pam is sure to have a good movie to
watch with her famous chocolote strawberry brownies. My family is the most important thing to
me and my father helped me realize that.