“The darkest hour is always right before the dawn.”







-Anonymous

I never really thought about how much my dad has taken in his life. He always says that he is doing fine, when the reality of it is that he isn’t. Rarely does our family see a real smile on his face, but when we do, it brightens up a day.

After the sicknesses pass, deaths, and fire, we all had to try and joy him as well as ourselves. He gradually becomes happier with remodeling his store to look great and be great. Over the years, I have felt the same pain that he does, but in different ways. In the past and lately, he has experienced the deaths of his family members. I can relate to his pain deeply because his brothers and sisters are my family also. The pains that I can’t relate to though are the ones that he physically endures in his condition of diverticulitis. I feel worry and tribulation when I see him wince or when I had seen him in the hospital many times.

When I see my dad smile, I know that it’s genuine. His rare smirks let me know that he is having a good time while his invaluable smiles shown when he sees his new office coming together let me know that he enjoys what he is doing. Lately, there have been more smirks and smiles and I understand that this is because he is greatly satisfied with what he is doing. When the fire destroyed the business, neither of us knew what to do, which was probably a normal reaction because of the shock. Night after night, my father stayed up being the one to take action and work on everything happening backstage in the business. He designed the entire store by himself from scratch and all of his hard work has come to a great end called beauty and happiness.

When I see my dad persistent and happy, there is a jump in my stomach and my heart feels full. There is no way to explain how I feel when I see him smile, though. “Things are changing,” I think with a smile. If I see anyone else smile, I wouldn’t really give care to it because I don’t know their background, but he is my father and the love our family shares can exchange the happiness with all of the pain that was once there.

My father has taught me to love family and that no matter how bad things can get, the sun will soon shine. Even though everyday has its own problems, I have learned to let it go. Crying over spilt milk or a done deal won’t help situations at all, so we should invest our time with tears of joy instead. We will still have our times of sorrow, but it will be easier to accept it and move on.