“I feel proud of my father and that I am his daughter. My father is my hero, I love him endlessly, he is and will be my idol all my life. When I grow up, I will become like you and I will follow in your footsteps to be a successful businesswoman and I will always make you proud.” 
 
I put down the microphone and ran down some steps. I spread my arms around my dad tightly and put my head on his shoulder and said, “I love you so much dad,” with my eyes filling with tears. 

Two years later, my life changed. The only thing that I never expected to happen happened. At midnight I had a dream of my dad passing away, and I woke up traumatized. I had a very bad feeling. The next morning it was raining. My brother came to get me from my cousin's house. I was scared because I could see that there was something going on. I got in the car, he looks at me then he looks down looks at me again, and a tear came to his eyes, I understood what happened, and I started screaming and crying. It was the worst feeling ever losing the person I loved the most. Then I went home where there were many people, I met my family, and everyone was trying to make me feel better but, the only thing I was thinking was that I don't have my dad anymore, I thought my life would be meaningless. 

 
I thought it was a dream; I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t think of myself without my dad. I didn’t go to school for one month. I lost myself, and I didn’t want to talk with anyone. I would stay alone all the time.   

One day I researched my dad's name on the internet, and I read every article that was written for him and his life. A long time ago, he was the first wrestling champion in Albania, later he opened the first betting company in Albania, and he did a cable car and other things you can visit on Mount Dajti. He started from nothing and worked a lot until he became a successful person. One thing that made me very proud was that my dad would help every person that needed help and shared his wealth with people in need. After reading a lot, I understood who my dad was and all the good things he had done. Everything made me reflect a lot. I felt proud knowing my dad was such a good person that worked hard.   

I promised myself that I am going to make my dad very proud, and I am going to help people in need like he always did. Every day I reflect on my actions, thinking if I did this would my dad be proud of me, or would it be something that wouldn't make him proud by having this in my mind every day, I thought two times before I did something. 

Although I changed a lot as a person, it made me stronger; it made me reflect every day about my future, who I am, who my family is, and who I will be. I started thinking about my future following my dad's steps. I thought that if the years passed, I would not be so upset and it would get better but no, it was worse, I started to feel more of the absence of my dad and it affected my mental health. My family made me realize that my dad left us with all the good things we could have ever asked for and we should be happy and proud because that’s what he would want from us - to always be happy. I thought about everything and then realized that I will move forward being strong and making my father and family proud.