I’ve been sitting in this coffee shop for 45 minutes now, trying to decide what piece of me I want to tell the world about. There is so much I want to say, but I feel as though I lack the internal inspiration to write something beautiful, touching, or real. I can tell you about grief, because it is something that I know all too well.

My dad died on May 25, 2015. I used to think about it all the time. I thought about how a void was created in not only my heart, but also my life. My dad and I would talk on his way home from class and now all of a sudden the phone calls quit coming. It has been a rough year, but I am finally at the point where that void is now normal.

Lately though, I have been thinking about him a lot. How much I miss him and what he would say to me now, because I am about to graduate college, there is one piece of advice I would like the world to have, especially since y’all were not lucky enough to have him as a dad, and here it is:

“New stuff is always scary. You are shaking off the vestiges of your childhood and becoming independent. There will be stumbling blocks in your path, but remember to stand back up. Your life becomes your own canvas. Paint it carefully and you will be fine. “- Phillip L. Pryor