Especially for those parents questioning their value with all this together time via COVID lock down, this writing (by an 11 year old boy) will tug on your heart. This is an awesome reminder of 'Why You Invest Time With Your Kid'. Could you kindly choose a parent/guardian that is doing a great job with their kid and share this article as encouragement for them?
Don’t you wish you could travel back in time? I sure do! I would turn it back to when I was four years old were my dad and I played Batman and Robin. My dad actually dressed up in a costume with a mask of Batman and I dressed in a costume of Robin, I was his side kick. I really believed him and I were superhero’s. My dad was 6’ tall with large hands and salt and pepper hair. He and I would run around the house and made many different scenario’s and would tie up my mom like a damsel in distress and I would jump in with Batman and save her from the Joker. It was so much fun that I would make my dad do this game every day and I felt like the luckiest kid on earth that I had a dad that would take time for me no matter what he was doing.
Now I am 6 years old and first day of school in the first grade. My dad always walked me to school and back since we lived so close to the school within a few blocks. This day was just an ok day and I was happy to see my friends again at school, however I missed my dad since him and I were so close and the bell rang for the end of the school day and when I came out of the doors, I was so happy to see him that I ran to him and I did not notice at first that he had a brand new bike for me. I was so excited it was the coolest bike it had black and green paint with these awesome tires. He sat me on the bike and said “I just wanted to make this day special for you”. Everyone from the school came and looked at me on my bike and commented on how lucky I was and I replied “I sure am” and then I rode my bike home and I rode that new bike for hours.
Going forward in time and I really got into WWE wresting because my dad and I watched it together on T.V. every Monday and Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and we would cheer and yell and drive my mom crazy and she told us to quiet down, but we never did. Sitting next to my dad I will never forget his smile, it was like looking at the sun and he wore this Aspen cologne that smelled kind of like the woods with a musky smell and his laugh was loud and funny like Barney Rumble from the Flintstones. One night my dad said “ let’s go upstairs” I did not know if I all of a sudden did something wrong, so I followed him up to his bedroom and he picked me up and spun me around like a rag doll and body slammed me on his bed. All of a sudden we were doing all these moves like on WWE. From that day on, he and I wrestled every night before I went to bed. Again how lucky is that? He never forgot to play with me.
Proceeding on in time, I joined the Cub Scouts were we learned different pledges, sold wreaths and was taught different survival skills that we would need if we were in the woods and needed to take care of ourselves. Well at the end of spring they have a piece a wood that you are to make a car out of it and then race it in a Derby Race. My dad and I spent hours making this car to the specification of entering in this race. He showed me how to cut the wood, put weights on it and then it was ready to be painted. I painted it all different colors and with the weights burrowed into the wood it looked like a Lego car made out of wood. I remember saying to my dad that we will never win the race and he looked at me with that big smile and said “you need to believe in yourself and never give up and if you don’t win it is o.k. just as long as we have fun.” My dad drove us to the location and race after race this car came in first it was unbelievable it never lost. People cheered and we came in first place in every category. If you remember when I was Star of the Week the picture I submitted with the trophies was this night I am telling you about. I will always do my best and never give up to honor him for the rest of my life.
Now the time machine is in 2016 and my mom and dad were celebrating their 20th anniversary and my mom went into our house to grab a bag to return to Wal-Mart and that afternoon, my life flashed before my eyes. My dad fell and hit his head hard on the garage cement floor. I had a feeling he was gone forever, but praying to god in my head that he was ok. I had seen this before when my sister died and I was so scared he had died in front of me. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital where they performed brain surgery on him and he was in a coma for weeks. I hated seeing my dad hooked up to all these machines and not being able to hear me telling him to fight and wake up and that I loved him SO MUCH!. After three weeks of being in a coma many doctors came into the room and told my mom that my dad was brain dead and that he would never come out of the coma and that we would have to let him go. The next day we took him off of life support. It is not like in the movies were once the machine go off the person dies. My dad was so tough that even though he was brain dead he gasped for every breath for four days he fought to stay with us. Memorial Day 2016 my mom got on her knees and prayed to God out load in front of the fireplace and screamed at God to take him so he would not suffer anymore because my mom was beside him every day and just could not take it anymore. Thirty seconds later and I am not kidding you the phone rang and it was the hospital telling my mom that my dad died. I had such an empty feeling inside my dad, my best friend was gone. I have learned never take anything for granted and to cherish the moments you have whether they are good or bad. My dad will live on through me because I have these memories.
This is to you dad and I will always love you. G-man.