Everyday when I get home from school, Dad is standing on the front porch waiting for me. I always run up to him and give him a great big hug. I love my dad more than anyone in the world! I guess that is just because my mom died when I was born and my dad has always been there for me. We go inside to the kitchen and Dad makes us both a cup of hot cocoa, my favorite! After that we head outside to the barn to milk the cows, get the chicken eggs, and stuff like that. Sometimes while we are working I ask Dad about what Mom was like. He often tells stories of her and some of the stories are very interesting. I just wish I had the chance to know her, but Dad says that I am very beautiful and that I am the most important woman in his life. I am only 17 but I will be 18 in about 2 months. I don’t have a boyfriend, I guess I just don’t want one; I don’t want my heart to be broken. Everyday on my way back to the house I ask my dad,

“Daddy do you love me?” As usual he responds,
“Yes sweetie, I always will.”
When we get inside the house he asks me,
“Isn’t prom next month?”
“Yeah, but I’m not going”
“Well, Why not? Has any one asked you yet?”
“Yes Dad, two people.”
“Then why aren’t you going? This is your senior year! This is your last chance for prom.”
“I don’t know, there isn’t any farm boys at my school”
“Well there has to be at least one?”
“Well there is one, Josh, but he would never ask me”
After that I head on up to bed for the night.

Throughout this month a lot of exciting things have been happening, I started dating Josh!
One day while Dad and I were in the barn I was telling him about how I was going to go prom dress shopping this weekend. He was happy for me. On the way back to the house I asked him,
“Daddy do you love me?”
“Yes sweetie, I always will.” Dad replied

The one day when I got home from school, I noticed Dad wasn’t on the porch. So I went inside to see where he was, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I thought maybe he was in town buying groceries or something and that he would be back soon, so I decided to go ahead and make hot cocoa for the both of us. But even when I was done he was nowhere around. It was getting late so I just went out to the barn and did the work by myself. On the way back to the house I asked myself,

“Daddy do you love me?”

But of course no one answered.

When I got inside, the phone started ringing, it was someone that worked in the hospital. They said that earlier today while I was at school Dad had a heart attack. I asked if I could talk to him but they said no and that he should be home tomorrow. After I got off the phone I started to cry so I called Josh. I told him what had happened and he decided to come over to make me feel better. He really calmed me down. The next day when Dad was back he told me he was supposed to rest, he also told me that some days when I get home from school he might not be here. That really made me sad, but Josh told me that until my dad gets better he will help me with the farm work everyday. That made me really happy because I got to spend time with the man I love. Everyday I was with him, which was the best thing ever. He even proposed to me, which of course I said yes!

Dad would help us every once in a while until he ended up getting a rare heart disease. He was in the hospital all the time now, but Josh and I would visit him every day. The one day while we were at the hospital Dad told me something that I never wanted to hear in my life,
“They expect me to have 1 year left at the most”

“No Dad you can’t! I want you to stay1”

“Honey, you are going to eventually have to let go of me, but before I go I want to go to your wedding”
“But we don’t have anything planned out yet”
“Well plan it out”
“Okay Dad”

When Josh and I got back to my house we started planning everything, it was so hard and nerve wrecking. It took about a month to actually plan out every single detail, and we didn’t really stop working. We decided to have the wedding six months after Dad told me he had a year to live just incase anything happened.

When the big day was finally here I was so excited and nervous and just about every emotion I could think of. Dad sat in the first row with the biggest smile I could have ever seen; they let him get out of the hospital for a day so he could go to my wedding. After the wedding we went on our honeymoon to Las Vegas, Nevada. We stayed there for two weeks.

When we got back I found out Dad was dying so I rushed to the hospital. Dad asked me how my honeymoon was I told him it was great. We started talking some more about different stuff then I finally asked him,
“Daddy do you love me?”

He replied and said,
“Yes sweetie, I always will. Even when I am gone.”

After he said that he took his last breath, tears were rushing down my face but I knew everything was going to be okay. I knew that because even though he wont be with me he will still be in my heart.

Two weeks later I found out that I was pregnant. I told Josh the big news while we were working in the barn the one day. He was very excited that he was going to be a father. On the way back to the house from the barn I was thinking a lot about how I am going to be a mother and Josh is going to be a father. So then I asked Josh,

“Daddy do you love me?”
He replied just like how my Dad would have,
“Yes sweetie, I always will.”