The Tatafu Family: It's been two years since you went away...

I graduated with honors from SLCC in 2007. We were told to gift our stole to the person who had helped us get to this point in our lives. My father forgave me when I tried to follow in his footsteps and get a degree in programming from Utah State. I hated it and slept in instead of going to class. I spent my days playing football with boys from my dorm, not doing homemork. I started with 13 credit hours and ended the semester earning a D in one class, passing bowling, and dropping all the rest. I lost his money, I felt like I had failed him. I fessed up when I started to realize the hole I was in. Instead of pushing me away in anger, he told me that some people are just not ready for more school after high school. Some people need a break or to work and take school a little slower. My dad didn't tell me that was it, my time at college was through unless I payed for it myself. He forgave me and gave me another chance. I took that chance and I pursued something I was passionate about. It was because of his forgiveness and dedication to me that I graduated with honors and without letting me come home and giving me this plan, I would not have worked security while in school and met my eternal companion, Mitch.

Get ready for a serious picture OVERLOAD! Just some of the best pics of Dad in my life.

I miss you and love you so much Daddy. Thank you for building me and my family a home to live in and giving it your all, even mudding drywall in my basement with cancer in your pancreas. I hope I can live up to the type of person you were and that I can be the best substitute possible for those many people who still need your help. Thank you for all you taught me. You were such an example of what it means to be family, what it means to serve others, and what it means to work hard. I miss playing ball with you and your friends. I miss talking about the future and sharing silly stories about your grandkids. I wish I had understood how short your time on this earth with me was, I wish I had taken more photos, more videos, and made even more memories. I miss walking through the door from my house to yours and visiting you on those Fridays you worked from home, especially with Benji in my arms. Before I got a new phone, I used to reread our last texts over and over, from when you were sick, but not yet too sick to text, I would smile every time I read your text to me; "I miss my little visitor", which was code for "I'm stuck in bed and bored and want to see my favorite little buddy, Benji." I miss having your physical presence in my older son's life, and mourn the loss of having you in my younger son's. I'll never forget when you told me that you understood why I was so hard on my siblings and said that it was because I was "a protector". You could not know then how those words would stick with me and keep me striving to live up to them. I cannot believe its only been two years since you've gone, and I try not to really think about how someday the scales will tip on how long I've lived without you vs. how long I lived with. I am SO lucky to have had you for the 24 years I did. I love to hear from Mitch how much he misses you too. In such a short time that you were actually in his life, you became one of the greatest men he has ever known. That says something. Daddy, I love you, keep up the hard work, until we meet again.

Love, Me

These pictures are all sorts of out of order, but I'm gonna try not to sweat the small stuff, at least for today. In case you are confused, I am the blonde one in every photo. Haha