Not only did I grow up having my family proud of my educational accomplishments, but I also played sports with my family by my side and prouder than ever. People in the community would call us the big happy family because we were always so happy and did everything together. Although I thought that I had the perfect life, I also took things for granted. I never thought of having to think about the days without one of my parents or siblings. I just didn’t believe that awful things could happen to my family because we were all healthy and we always did everything right. Well, my dad was sent to the hospital. My father spent days and days there and we would face-time and call him everyday. We were told that he was doing so much better, so we believed the doctors and went on with the days because that is what my father wanted. He always wanted me to do everything in my power to get noticed by college coaches. I was on my way to a softball camp at Western Kentucky University. This was the camp that was supposed to get my name on their roster for the 2024 season. I was beyond excited to get to talk to the coaches and that I knew my dad was rooting me on from the hospital. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to finish the camp because of what I was told was that something terrible has happened to my father. I had to leave the camp before we even got started on our second section. The thoughts were just roaming around my head of all the possible things that could happen except one possibility that I refused to believe could have happened. Until one day, when my mother received a call in the middle of my camp. The call that everyone dreads to ever receive. The news we had received was that I lost my father. August 28, 2021 turned into the worst day of my life. This was the day that my perfect little family turned into a broken family due to my fathers death. He was always my number one supporter and it is still so hard to even get up everyday. I have one major goal in my life and that is to continue making my father proud. I will forever be thankful for what he has done for me and keeps doing for me. Everything I do from here on out will be earned by hard work for my father to keep making him proud!

I grew up playing sports with my family by my side. People in the community would call us the big happy family because we were always so happy and did everything together. Although I thought that I had the perfect life, I also took things for granted. I never thought of having to think about the days without one of my parents or siblings. I just didn’t believe that awful things could happen to my family because we were all healthy and we always did everything right. Well, my dad was sent to the hospital. My father spent days and days there and we would face-time and call him everyday. We were told that he was doing so much better, so we believed the doctors and went on with the days because that is what my father wanted. He always wanted me to do everything in my power to get noticed by college coaches. I was on my way to a softball camp at Western Kentucky University. This was the camp that was supposed to get my name on their roster for the 2024 season. I was beyond excited to get to talk to the coaches and that I knew my dad was rooting me on from the hospital. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to finish the camp because of what I was told was that something terrible has happened to my father. I had to leave the camp before we even got started on our second section. The thoughts were just roaming around my head of all the possible things that could happen except one possibility that I refused to believe could have happened. Until one day, when my mother received a call in the middle of my camp. The call that everyone dreads to ever receive. The news we had received was that I lost my father. August 28, 2021 turned into the worst day of my life. This was the day that my perfect little family turned into a broken family due to my fathers death. He was always my number one supporter and it is still so hard to even get up everyday. I have one major goal in my life and that is to continue making my father proud. I am slowly but progressing with working hard on my school work and playing softball in honor of my father. He was my biggest supporter in everything I did and I know how much he wanted me to move on and play softball in college and be able to finish out my dreams of being a vet or pediatric nurse in the future. I played in my first tournament after finding out about my father and I received a ton of great feedback from coaches and parents from not only my team, but other teams that noticed. Everybody that wasn't from our team had no idea what the backstory of all my hard work during that tournament came from, but it didn't matter because they were still noticing. I ended up making 16 diving plays, 3 home runs, and 24 RBI's from that tournament. I have always been known for being the aggressive player but I knew my father was there every step of the way. He helped get 4 new colleges to notice me. I will forever be thankful for what he has done for me and keeps doing for me. Everything I do from here on out will be earned by hard work for my father to keep making him proud!