Father’s Day was the best time to show our fathers or every man who plays this role in our life, our appreciation and respect. Because of that, we gave you the opportunity to write your thoughts about that in the comment below our blog post. Of course, once again, we rewarded you for that with numerous free spins. It was very difficult for us to chose the three best stories, but we did that. Go ahead and read them!
1st place
My Father. My Best Friend. My Hero. My Pillar of Strength. My happiness. My motivation. The center of my world. The fabric of my existence.
3 months ago, my existence was shattered. The center of my world was torn away from me. Cancer took over.
My Father and best friend became my Angel.
This is the very first Father’s Day that I will not have the privilege of celebrating the greatest man I have ever known. It’s hard and it hurts like hell.
I want so badly to tell him just one more time that I want to be just like him when I grow up. I’ve always told him that, despite how old I was.
All my life, I’ve aspired to be just like him. And still- 3 months after losing him- I’m still aspiring to be just like him, and will do so for the rest of my life.
The thing is, I didn’t just celebrate my Father one day out of the year. I celebrated my father every single day of his life. He truly was the most special human to have lived.
My Father understood the importance of love, patience, encouragement, kindness, happiness, laughter, and family.
My Father understood the importance of education. As an immigrant son raised by a single mother, he did not have access to the same resources he provided for me. He didn’t have the opportunity to go to school. Instead, he worked through his childhood to help his single mother and his two siblings.
My Father did not have a father; yet, he gave me the blessing of being the best father he could be.
My father did not have a childhood; yet, he gave me the best childhood any child could ever want.
My father did not have access to education- higher education or otherwise. Yet, he gave me the tools and resources I needed to achieve professional level degrees. I would give anything to tell my dad just one more time that no matter what degrees I hold, he’ll always be smarter than me.
My father provided me with everything he never had and so much more.
My Father understood the importance of life and living. He valued every single day he was here.
My father made me realize that doing the impossible is not just surviving, it’s also learning how to live after the trauma, the way we did before the trauma. And that will set the tone, and define who we are every day moving forward.
My Father has done the impossible his entire life, even more so after his diagnosis.
He knew how to live before his diagnosis. He loved life. That was evident and apparent through the way he lived life.
After his diagnosis, Dad wasn’t just doing the impossible – surviving each day -knowing that he was facing what was already a lost battle. Dad was alive and living! Both before and after his diagnosis, dad LIVED – and not just survived – because he loved life.
Dad set the precedent for going beyond surviving. For dad, I learned it was never just about getting through each day, but what he did with each day he had, that mattered. Dad balanced that fine line between just being alive, and actually living – until the choice was no longer his.
He knew it was impossible to survive this disease. But what makes my father even more remarkable is the lesson he is teaching me now as I write this – that despite knowing that the odds were stacked against him, knowing the impossibility of surviving the incurable, he chose life- to live each day he was alive- and not just survive.
Survival isn’t guaranteed; it isn’t a choice. He survived only as much as the disease allowed him to.
I’ve learned that when trauma like this hits you, it splits your life into a before and after, and everything that has happened in life gets attached to one or the other. Life will never be the way it was before the traumatic event, and the hardest part is building a different life afterwards when all you know and feel comfortable with is the before.
For me, Father’s day has been split into a before and after. But, one thing will forever remain the same. In life and after, he will always remain the greatest father- a father that I can never take for granted, and will forever hold in my heart and soul for as long as I live.
I love you all the way to Heaven, daddy.
Happy Father’s day, my hero, my best friend. Summer
2nd place
My mother committed suicide when I was too young to understand what had happened. My father got home from work and went to kiss my mom. He bent over and kissed her and imediately started crying because her body was cold and blue. He called 911 and they asked him to give her CPR. When he moved her, her lifeless, limp neck swung down and her head touched her spine. Her top row of teeth collided with her bottom teeth making an unforgettably disturbing sound.
My father was all I had growing up, and he taught me how to still see beauty in life when things are seemingly hopeless. He lost the love of his life, but still he had a smile on his face, and still he persevered to take care of me and everyone else that needed to talk or who was just hurting and needed a hug.. I always asked him why he wasn’t sad about mama being gone.. this is what he told me “I can remember 1000s of good memories with your mama. I can only think of one bad memory of her and its her death. Why focus on the one negative when we have 1000s of positives right in front us.”
He truly is an amazing person and I am blessed to have met c cook. Nathaniel
3rd place
I was raised number 3 of 5 siblings raised soley by our dad. A man of many talents; he speaks 3 languages fluently, plays guitar, holds a 5th degree shotakon karate black belt, and is a left handed artist. I am also a lefty. He was a high school art teacher until i reached 4th grade, but went on to become a principal. He was my highschool principal, which at that time was not cool. Lol.
But now, i cherish the experience of seeing him at school everyday! I am greatful for his unconditional love, all I have learned from him, and all i have become. I wouldn’t change anything about him. I am a strong, independent, successful, open minded, optimistic, creative individual, thanks to my dear old dad! Annie