All the work, time and prayers you put in were realized this month. Hope you're smiling down and beaming with pride. We love and miss you Dad!

Today as always would have just been another day of celebration. Not just one but double celebration too. It's very hard accepting the fact that you're no longer here to celebrate with but dear dad, we will continue to celebrate in your honor. I just hope there's a big smile on your face today. Rest Well Dad, Happy Birthday!

It has been almost 3 weeks and I am still trying to come to terms with this new reality. It still feels so surreal and for a moment, I feel like I would wake up and find out that I have been dreaming all along. Maybe I will.

You spent a greater part of this last year living with me and in this past year, while I also just started my graduate program in electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins, I did what I could to make things work. I may not have always made the best decisions at times but for a while we made things work. It wasn't easy at all but the God I serve always pulled us through.
Our time together brought us closer, we learned about each other and we were able to talk about anything. I loved that you were able to give me my freedom and I could be honest with you. When you started moving and doing your usual activities well, I was so happy. I was so grateful and joyful about this renewed strength, though not perfect yet, but to the point that you this great man actually started using your strength to help me with some of my chores around the house to help reduce the stress that I had as a full time student. The first time I came home from school and saw my dishes washed, I was genuinely surprised. You told me "I couldn't bend down to put the dishes where you would put them but I just wanted to help you out a little bit". You truly were the greatest dad anyone could have ever asked for. I was so happy to see you in that manner exercising the little strength God was giving you on a daily basis.
If there's one positive thing that came out of our situation, I would say it was the bond that was able to grow between us. A lot of people usually refer to me as Daddy's girl (probably because I'm the only girl anyways, lol) but I never truly believed it or I don't think I truly embodied that title until this past year. I not only got close to you as father and daughter should but we were able to get to know each other as people.
We had this one 5 hour trip, our first road trip together when we went to visit Ayotunde in school, that made us technically have no choice but to talk to each other, lol. It was one of the first moments when I got a true picture into the life you had lived; the struggles you had gone through, all that you had done to get yourself to where you are, your true successes. We spoke about it all. That was a moment that truly signified our relationship. Even Ayotunde commented on the various visits he made to see us that we had developed a special way of communicating with each other. I'm sure he was jealous, lol.
You were truly getting better and having a better outlook to life. We had more road trips, you were meeting new people and having fun. We celebrated your 55th birthday together and I thought we had definitely crossed a threshold, what could happen now. On your birthday, I was excited to plan the little surprise for you, I treated you with an outing to a nice restaurant and there were gifts and there was cake. I felt like a big spender that day (even though, it's technically your money, lol) but you expressed how much you enjoyed yourself and that was all that mattered.