Father's Day is still significant in my life even though my biological father has been deceased for almost nine years. I feel blessed to have known who my father is and to have the chance to actually interact with him. There are many boys and men in society that weren't given this chance because of different circumstances. As this day approaches each year, I try to remember all the good and bad times I spent with my father. He walked me to school every morning over the railroad tracks. My father never was able to graduate from high school because he had to help my grandmother with the bills, and this was mainly because his father left my grandmother.

My father wanted me to succeed in life badly, the passion for me to graduate from high school could be seen within his eyes. Being mediocre in life didn't exist in his vocabulary. He pushed me beyond my limits at times, and I really didn't understand this as a young boy.

In my opinion, I thought that my father was just a mean, verbal, abusive man. Reality is he was just preparing me for the different views within society. He only knew how to show tough unconditional love to his children. Of course, I had the honor of carrying the same exact name as him, which at times in life seem to be the most difficult feat. I use to feel like no matter what I did in life, my father was never satisfied and he always desired more. Suddenly, my world became dismantled at the age of thirteen, and I no longer had the stability of a father in my life. My father died from colon cancer just a week after being diagnosed. The sad thing about my father's death is he knew he didn't have long to live. My father came home after being diagnosed for a few days, and he went to Hospice a few days later. Although, he went to Hospice to try to recover, my father ended up dying the next day after he was admitted.

My father left a clear sincere message with my father for my brothers: " Tell the boys to behave, take care of you, and to make sure they graduate from high school."

This message actually foreshadowed that he was going to die soon, but I was too naïve at the time to realize the situation. I really thought my father was going to recover from the cancer. When he died it felt like my heart split in half, and I was emotionally torn because the matter of the fact was I relied on my father. My father motivated and challenged me in a way that is irreplaceable. We use to always talk about how he would be sitting in the crowd, when I walked across the stage at my high school graduation. However, he never got the opportunity to see me graduate from high school nor did he get to see me earn my Associate of Arts Degree. Moreover, he won't get to see me walk proudly across the stage when I receive my Bachelor's of Arts Degree in English from Virginia Tech, May 2010. In spite of this, his love in spirit will always remain in my heart, and my success so far in life is largely because of him. Reflecting on my father today is more meaningful now, and I have an appreciation for all the things that he taught me.