As I finished playing basketball, I headed to my car and looked at my notifications from the past 2 hours. A missed call from my dad sat on my screen and I clicked on it to call him back, not knowing what he had to say would change my life forever. My life turned upside down as the words “he died in an accident last night,” rang in my head as I debated whether to believe it. Having someone so close to me taken away unexpectedly has forced me to evaluate my priorities and has changed who I am today. Because his death was less than a year ago, there are still occasional down days, but I have learned many lessons from his death. Officially, Dago Flores was my youth leader and the music director at my church, but in reality, he was much more. Outside of my parents, he was my go-to for everything from life advice, to how to create different sounds on the keyboard. Because I had become so close to Dago, losing him felt like losing a part of myself. For a few months following his passing, I was quite depressed and unmotivated to do much of anything. One of the things that helped me stay grounded throughout my grieving was my love for playing the keyboard for church services and classical piano. Because Dago was the music director at church and drummer on the worship band, continuing to play was difficult because it reminded me of him. However, persevering through it and carrying on his legacy, made me realize that I truly felt joy in serving others through my music. Additionally, I found enjoyment in learning to play advanced classical pieces. Even though they are difficult to master, I continued to practice over time, ingraining the music into my fingers. Although I always put in the work, there have still been disastrous performances. While I used to value the performance results, I now realize that the true value is in my effort and the process beforehand. In the past, I have typically been afraid to ask for help as I believed it to be a sign of weakness. However, through the grieving process, I learned that letting people come alongside me to help carry my burden is a sign of strength because it can be difficult to ask for help. While losing a close friend was very painful, I know that I am now a stronger person because of it and am more equipped to handle life’s challenges as well as help others through their own difficult experiences. Getting cut from the baseball team was a difficult pill to swallow. I identified as an athlete, so representing my school in playing the sport which I loved was something I had always wanted to do and felt was a necessary part of my life. I worked extremely hard throughout the offseason, so in my mind, I would make the team. Looking back, even though I failed to achieve my goal, I enjoyed and valued the time spent deepening relationships through working out with friends and coaches. Throughout my life, there have been several instances where I have invested time in something that didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to, whether that be performing a piano piece poorly or getting cut from the baseball team. I now know that my effort is the only thing I control, and even though the result might not be what I wanted, there is always something to be learned or gained from the work and effort I put in.

As I finished playing basketball, I headed to my car and looked at my notifications from the past 2 hours. A missed call from my dad sat on my screen and I clicked on it to call him back, not knowing what he had to say would change my life forever. My life turned upside down as the words “he died in an accident last night,” rang in my head as I debated whether to believe it. Having someone so close to me taken away unexpectedly has forced me to evaluate my priorities and has changed who I am today. Because his death was less than a year ago, there are still occasional down days, but I have learned many lessons from his death. Officially, Dago Flores was my youth leader and the music director at my church, but in reality, he was much more. Outside of my parents, he was my go-to for everything from life advice, to how to create different sounds on the keyboard. Because I had become so close to Dago, losing him felt like losing a part of myself. For a few months following his passing, I was quite depressed and unmotivated to do much of anything. One of the things that helped me stay grounded throughout my grieving was my love for playing the keyboard for church services and classical piano. Because Dago was the music director at church and drummer on the worship band, continuing to play was difficult because it reminded me of him. However, persevering through it and carrying on his legacy, made me realize that I truly felt joy in serving others through my music. Additionally, I found enjoyment in learning to play advanced classical pieces. Even though they are difficult to master, I continued to practice over time, ingraining the music into my fingers. Although I always put in the work, there have still been disastrous performances. While I used to value the performance results, I now realize that the true value is in my effort and the process beforehand. In the past, I have typically been afraid to ask for help as I believed it to be a sign of weakness. However, through the grieving process, I learned that letting people come alongside me to help carry my burden is a sign of strength because it can be difficult to ask for help. While losing a close friend was very painful, I know that I am now a stronger person because of it and am more equipped to handle life’s challenges as well as help others through their own difficult experiences. During my sophomore year, I tried out for my high school’s baseball team for the second season, after getting cut the prior year. I identified as an athlete, so representing my school in playing the sport which I loved was something I had always wanted to do and felt was a necessary part of my life. I worked extremely hard throughout the offseason, so in my mind, I would make the team. Looking back, even though I failed to achieve my goal, I enjoyed and valued the time spent deepening relationships through working out with friends and coaches. Throughout my life, there have been several instances where I have invested time in something that didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to, whether that be performing a piano piece poorly or getting cut from the baseball team. I now know that my effort is the only thing I control, and even though the result might not be what I wanted, there is always something to be learned or gained from the work and effort I put in.