A Hero That Lived

            My turning point occurred when I was still developing a sense of life. Parents are the best people to make one understand life, due to the huge experience which they have concerning life. My parents, especially my father, as he influenced most of my decisions as I grew up. The choices I made depended upon the teachings I received from my father, since he made to understand how to make decisions. In as much as he was humorous, there was also the other strict side of my dad, and this is what made me to focus on the good and not the evil in life. October 2014, was the turning point of my life, as I remembered my past experiences with my family, while in class. This was a unique moment in my life as I missed my family which was far from me.

The thoughts of my family, changed my moods, thus becoming nostalgic, since I could not wait to meet my parents again. When I remembered of the things we did together as a family, I feel homesick. The love and affection which my mother showed us as a family, made our family to be one of a kind. As I sat on my chair, I looked at picture on my phone, and realized how important our family was, and how I missed my home. This made me to put the phone on my desk, and I imagined of how unique my family was.

As a foreign student, I was very happy to indulge with people of different cultures, who were very welcoming. Picturing from the day I left Pakistan, my dad accompanied me to the airport, and this made me to feel the love which I had for my family. On that day, my dad gave me the last piece of advice, and steal remember those words up to date, he said, “you are a grown up, you should be kind and respectful to others.” My dad knew I was a hardworking and a well behaved person, thus he did not have to go into detail while seeing me off at the airport. No sooner had I completed reminiscing on those events at the airport, than my sister rang me.

My sister rang me while I was in class, and this was not her norm to call during class time, I knew something was not right. My heart pumped harder, I could feel blood circulating in my body, and then I picked the call while standing on the hallway. I gathered courage and spoke with a lot of enthusiasm, “Hello sister, You already miss me?” she went silent for a moment, making me to become frustrated. Then she replied in a cold voice, “dad has just had a heart attack, and is being rushed to the hospital,” the tension in her voice made my heart to palpitate twice harder. On hearing the message, I become numb, I could neither move my heard nor my legs. I had frozen in agony, I could feel pain right through my heart for a matter of two minutes. I immediately hanged up the phone, but the condition in which I was, could not allow me to go back to class and continue with the lectures. As I walked back to class to pick my stuff, my classmates looked at me in astonishment. My face was filled with sweat, my lips were trembling, and my jaws were hitting against each other. I told the teacher about the issue and immediately picked my stuff and left the class.

I bought the ticket at the airport, and due to confusion I ended up packing less stuff than I was supposed to pack. My racing heart and shivering hands could not hold the ticket stiffly. My mind was already in Pakistan I think it travelled faster. My sister called again, while I was still waiting for the plane, and this time round, she had the worst message. As picked the phone, I could hear her crying, and I knew the worst had happened, then I waited for her to compose herself before she said “daddy is dead.” This was the moment of intense stress in my life, my heart pumped even harder, ears filled my eyes, my hands shivered. As I entered the plane, I could do nothing but console myself lying to myself that my dad was not dead. The thought of being in the plane for more than 16 hours could not allow me to feel at ease.

The truth dawned on me that indeed my father was dead, when I saw my mum waiting for me at the airport. Her eyes were filled with tears, she had dressed up casually, a thing which she only did while indoors. When I looked at my mum, I knew it was over, my mum’s heart was tone into pieces, I could see it right through her face. Mum had lost the man she had known all her life, a man who protected her from any form of attacks, a man who had provided her a shoulder to lean on in her times of need. At this point, I was supposed to caress my mum, and console her. 

I was used to my dad, since he was very humorous, and I could not imagine never seeing him forever. The burial had been delayed to allow my presence at the burial. Everybody was there, and it was difficult not to cry as everyone was there. I immediately broke down when I saw my father’s picture and remembered the happy times. He was my role model, I remembered how hard he worked to make sure I received the best education, and better life. This was the worst day in my life, I felt like I had lost everything.

This was turning point as I knew I would not have such a loving father again and the rest of my life, I will have to leave by the advice which I had acquired from him. I knew my siblings needed to be taken care of and my mother was not in position to cater for this. The fatherly love is one which is given once in a lifetime and one, can never get it back once gone.