It was Thursday, December 18, 2014: my brother's birthday. What started out like a very usual day ended up as one of the most difficult days I have had to endure. As you all know, to this point, my father had been sick for quite some time. As usual, I went in to lay my eyes on him before I left for work; and like we always did, I said, "I'll see you this evening dude" he responded, "have a good day Nay Nay."
I went out the door taking care of my daily responsibilities. Excited about the fact that tomorrow, December 19, 2014 would be the start of my Christmas vacation. I was going to be out of work for almost two weeks. I had a plan, I was going to rest, clean out my clothes, and most importantly, hang out and spend some time with my daddy.
Little did I know the plan I had would soon be crushed. As I was going about my day, I received a strange telephone call. It was my sister's number but not my sisters voice. Her husband had called me to inform me that I needed to get home. Before he opened his mouth, I knew the message I was about to receive. How did I know I hear someone asking.Yes my brother-in-law calls me from time to time but what made this so different was he called my from my sisters phone. Not his.
I don't know about you all but for me, I pay very close attention to details; and doing so, I don't get surprised too often.
As requested, I proceeded to leave work. God was so good to me that He allowed my dad to see me one more time. He was not able to speak but he surely did acknowledge me. Not just me, God allowed each one of my daddy's children and grandchildren, and my mother to be in his presence one last time before he had to say good-bye. I saw my younger sisters crumble right before my eyes. You see, my daddy was a one of a kind in so many ways and we knew that life without him would never be the same.
My nieces and nephews fell apart. But, what can you say to a child who just lost their number one fan. Their biggest cheerleader. My daddy was all of that and more for his grandchildren. Every last one of them was special to him. He loved them all the same yet so very different in many ways. His love for all of us was genuine and pure; yet unique at the same time.
There was his first grand-daughter, the one he bought the blue Cadillac just so he and my mom could ride her around. Then there was ROCK, most of you probably know him as Zoey Pierre Dupre' if you are a facebook fan. Oh my God, let's not talk about grandma and Faulc; Quan and Cierra; and yes, the one he took so much educational pride in, Malik. No, this is the first group of grands. He loved and Destiny and Mackenzie as well.
When that second group came along, my dad became funnier and funnier. From Tarik, the one he called a genius and Tyler, the one who is soooooo much like him to this dad. But nothing is more funnier to me than Faith "Miss Boyd" if you grand-daddy and of course, Big Rat. Oh my God, this man gave us so much.
As you can see, he left a pair of shoes too big for any man to fill. My daddy didn't just love us, he liked us and we all knew that. We did not need or want for anything. If he thought it was best for us and he could do it, he always came through. Where in the world will I ever find someone to love me like my daddy did. For those of you who are super saved and you want to say Jesus loves me, I am confident in that as well. However, we all need and want the love, touch, support, and comfort of a human every now and then.
So as you can see, December 18, 2014 was the day my heart was shattered. Who wanted Christmas after such a great loss. But, we had to push through with everything we had, as the next week would go like this. December 18 my dad passed, December 19 - 20, funeral arrangements are being made, December 21 the visitation was held, December 22, the funeral took place.
I know this all seems kinda fast paced but you see, my dad would have never wanted to take away from Dominique's Birthday (December 23), Christmas Eve (December 24), Jesus Birthday (December 25) or Teet Teet's birthday (Tamatha, December 26). Now do you understand a little better as to why the loss of my dad has been so difficult? We've never had a chance to breath or grieve.
Sometimes life goes so fast we forget to acknowledge the things that mean the most. So, I guess that is why I work up feeling this way today. My heart hurts so badly without him. There are so many things I need to ask him, so many things I want to share; and there is no one, and I do mean no one who can do for me the things my daddy did.
So I'm going to embrace my meltdown today. All because I know my daddy is proud of me.
I went out the door taking care of my daily responsibilities. Excited about the fact that tomorrow, December 19, 2014 would be the start of my Christmas vacation. I was going to be out of work for almost two weeks. I had a plan, I was going to rest, clean out my clothes, and most importantly, hang out and spend some time with my daddy.
Little did I know the plan I had would soon be crushed. As I was going about my day, I received a strange telephone call. It was my sister's number but not my sisters voice. Her husband had called me to inform me that I needed to get home. Before he opened his mouth, I knew the message I was about to receive. How did I know I hear someone asking.Yes my brother-in-law calls me from time to time but what made this so different was he called my from my sisters phone. Not his.
I don't know about you all but for me, I pay very close attention to details; and doing so, I don't get surprised too often.
As requested, I proceeded to leave work. God was so good to me that He allowed my dad to see me one more time. He was not able to speak but he surely did acknowledge me. Not just me, God allowed each one of my daddy's children and grandchildren, and my mother to be in his presence one last time before he had to say good-bye. I saw my younger sisters crumble right before my eyes. You see, my daddy was a one of a kind in so many ways and we knew that life without him would never be the same.
My nieces and nephews fell apart. But, what can you say to a child who just lost their number one fan. Their biggest cheerleader. My daddy was all of that and more for his grandchildren. Every last one of them was special to him. He loved them all the same yet so very different in many ways. His love for all of us was genuine and pure; yet unique at the same time.
There was his first grand-daughter, the one he bought the blue Cadillac just so he and my mom could ride her around. Then there was ROCK, most of you probably know him as Zoey Pierre Dupre' if you are a facebook fan. Oh my God, let's not talk about grandma and Faulc; Quan and Cierra; and yes, the one he took so much educational pride in, Malik. No, this is the first group of grands. He loved and Destiny and Mackenzie as well.
When that second group came along, my dad became funnier and funnier. From Tarik, the one he called a genius and Tyler, the one who is soooooo much like him to this dad. But nothing is more funnier to me than Faith "Miss Boyd" if you grand-daddy and of course, Big Rat. Oh my God, this man gave us so much.
As you can see, he left a pair of shoes too big for any man to fill. My daddy didn't just love us, he liked us and we all knew that. We did not need or want for anything. If he thought it was best for us and he could do it, he always came through. Where in the world will I ever find someone to love me like my daddy did. For those of you who are super saved and you want to say Jesus loves me, I am confident in that as well. However, we all need and want the love, touch, support, and comfort of a human every now and then.
So as you can see, December 18, 2014 was the day my heart was shattered. Who wanted Christmas after such a great loss. But, we had to push through with everything we had, as the next week would go like this. December 18 my dad passed, December 19 - 20, funeral arrangements are being made, December 21 the visitation was held, December 22, the funeral took place.
I know this all seems kinda fast paced but you see, my dad would have never wanted to take away from Dominique's Birthday (December 23), Christmas Eve (December 24), Jesus Birthday (December 25) or Teet Teet's birthday (Tamatha, December 26). Now do you understand a little better as to why the loss of my dad has been so difficult? We've never had a chance to breath or grieve.
Sometimes life goes so fast we forget to acknowledge the things that mean the most. So, I guess that is why I work up feeling this way today. My heart hurts so badly without him. There are so many things I need to ask him, so many things I want to share; and there is no one, and I do mean no one who can do for me the things my daddy did.
So I'm going to embrace my meltdown today. All because I know my daddy is proud of me.