My Dad

My Dad went to meet his Creator two weeks ago today. I have been wanting to write about it, but was never inspired. Today I had to give some quotes, a personal view on my dad for a press release being sent out by the Jennifer S. Fallick Cancer Support Center. They are honoring him next Saturday at their President's Ball with the Spirit of Life Award. After typing out what I wanted to convey to her, in one simple e-mail (ha!), I felt what I wrote was just a tint of who my father was.

"My dad was filled with humility. He would be very appreciative and thankful for this award, but he didn't do all he did for the notoriety or recognition. He would use this award to turn around and inspire others to use their God-given talents and gifts for good in the areas in which their passion lies. And he was truly an inspirational man. I remember listening to him give a speech for a campaign or just addressing a crowd at an event. He would win me over time and time again. Maybe I was biased being his "Princess," his only daughter among five brothers, but I believe he could motivate others brilliantly.

In regard to his cancer, my dad was diagnosed 6 1/2 years before he died, when they only gave him 1 year to live. At the time of his diagnosis, he had only 1 grandchild. And at the end of his life he had 10 more. My dad would say he was so blessed; he would wake every day thanking God for another day to be alive, another day to give to his community and family.

His death came as a shock to some people, because my dad kept his cancer to himself for the most part. These others knew he had it, but he was in such great shape, they didn't believe it. He was still attending to business, still ushering at church, still wrestling around on the floor with my boys up until the day he went into the hospital last December. My dad didn't let his cancer define him. My dad is the most positive man I have ever met, never a complaint about anything, including his illness. Next to my heavenly Father, my earthly father was my hero, my rock. Now that he is gone, the world will be a more empty place - in the business world, in the philanthropic world, in the government, in our family. But he wouldn't want us to think like that. He would want us to step up, fill his void in all his ventures and endeavors. He would hope that we would be inspired, not by his fabulous rhetoric as I mentioned before, but in the silence of his absence from death."