Fly (Discontinued)

The Day My Life Flipped

When I was four years old I started gymnastics and loved it. That is until my father died in Afghanistan a year later. I still remember everything that happened that day from the moment it started to when the funeral was over. The day he was supposed to come home there was a knock at the door and I was there faster than you could say banana. Once I opened the door there stood the commander of my dad's troop.

 "Where is your mommy sweetie?" He asked

Next thing I know I hear my mom crying like crazy so I asked her what is wrong. 

"Sweetie, you know how daddy was fighting the bad guys?" She asked

 I simply nodded for her to continue but, I never expected her to say the four words that would change my life. 

 "He lost the fight." She saisd

 I remember standing there frozen in place. Everything that was going on around me was fuzzy because my mind was going at a hundred miles per hour trying to comprehend what she just said. I didn't even noticed that the commander came over to stand beside me. As soon as I noticed I quickly composed myself because that is what my dad taught me to do whenever I was in front of a person that worked for the military, navy, air force, etc. 

"You truly are your father's daughter." He said with a sad smile

 I looked at him with tears in my eyes and forced a smile. 

"Thank you sir." I said

 He then pulled something out from behind his back. It was a journal that had my dad's intials on the leather cover. I slowly took it and opened it. It was blank other than the very first page. It was a letter from my dad it said

"Dear Brittney, If you are reading this that means I am no longer with you. Gosh this is really hard to do. Ok, so as you know I serve for the military. I know that I am not home. I'm not one of the people that is constantly in your life. You don't know how much it hurts to know that you might miss you child's first steps, first words, first day of school, etc. All because of a mission you were assigned to. I bought this journal and many more that have the same cover and initals on them. Your mom has all of them stored for when the last one runs out of pages. Anyway because I am gone you have to stay away from boys until you are all grown up, preferably thirty. You also have to take care of your mom for me. I love you forever and always. -Dad"

When I finished reading the letter I noticed a necklace in between the pages. I was a locket that had a picture of my dad and I. I put it on and never took it off unless I had gymnastics or I was swimming.