My Dad

He never had to say I love you because I already knew. During my fourth grade band concert he would make me laugh from his seat in the audience because he knew how scared I was. When my mom would go to work he let me and my sisters build forts out of the couch cushions. He videotaped every swim meet, every cheerleading competition, every dance performance, every special moment of my life.

And then he got sick. He got really sick. He suffered from a terrible heart attack when I was a sophomore in high school. During a normal afterschool cheerleading practice my mom walked in and told me I had to go with her “right now, you have to come right now.” My dad was in the hospital.

He underwent open-heart surgery, countless other surgeries and procedures. I prayed a constant prayer in my heart for months “Please God, we need him. I don’t know what we are going to do.” One night I asked my mom’s friends if my dad was going to die. They didn’t have an answer, and my heart broke.

Thankfully, months later my dad got to come home and he cried, and well, we all cried. He never had to say it, I already knew, he loved me.

To my Dad, on the 28^th Father’s Day I get to spend with you, thank you, for being you and for knowing what it means to be an amazing dad. I love you. Happy Father’s Day!