My Heart Belongs to You

It took Taylor almost three weeks to finish the page designs, which meant that all that was left to do was add the pictures and find some quotes to put under them. Looking back at her childhood stirred up a mixture of emotions for Taylor, happiness, and sadness with a hint of anger. It had been a while since Taylor had opened her box of pictures, burying the captured memories that she had shared with her dad and keeping the grief at bay.

Sitting on the bed with the box open in front of her, Taylor took a deep breath and tipped the contents out. Looking through the pictures, Taylor felt tears form in her eyes and wiped them away as they rolled down cheeks.

Knowing that she would be presenting her project to her class the next day, Taylor headed to sleep and woke up early the following morning. Getting ready for school, she made her way downstairs and sat down at the table with her mum to eat.

"You present your project today, right?" Her mum asked, pushing a few buttons on her laptop and closing it as she looked over.

"Yeah, I'm kind of nervous if I'm honest."

"How come?"

"I don't know, it's just... this project is all about me and I guess I feel a little exposed," Taylor explained.

"That's understandable, sweetie," her mum replied, reaching over and taking Taylor's hand with a smile, "I know that it's hard for you to talk about your dad."

"Mum, do you think that dad would be proud of me?"

"He's always been proud of you, Tay... you're his little girl and that doesn’t change just because he isn't here to say it."

Nodding, Taylor finished her breakfast in silence and kissed her mum's cheek as she left. Meeting Dylan on the way out, they headed to school together and separated as they both went to their first classes.

Time flew by and before she knew it, she was standing in front of a hall of people presenting her project. Feeling her chest constrict as she spoke about her father, Taylor searched the room for someone... anyone to tell her that she was going to be okay and then her eyes landed on Mr. Corrick.

"And that leads us to today," Taylor stated, turning to a blank scrapbook page, "I woke up this morning terrified of talking about my dad, scared that I would crack and everything would crumble... but I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a mum who loves me, a best friend who is always there in my time of need, a boyfriend who knows me better than I think I know myself, and someone who offered me a hand when I could feel myself slipping into pure darkness," Taylor continued, closing the scrapbook and placing a blank page on the board.

Taking out a pen, Taylor uncapped it and wrote 'Once upon a time there was a girl and although the pain of losing her dad was still strong within her, she discovered that her heart was still able to love.' Putting the pen down, she sighed in relief and smiled as everyone stood up to applaud her. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she looked up to find Mr. Corrick standing in front of her and realized that she was crying.

"Good job," he told her, squeezing her shoulder in a comforting manner, "I have no doubt that if your dad was here... he would be very proud of you."

That was all she really wanted... to make her dad proud and be the person that he brought her up to be. Since a young age, she had always wanted to be just like her daddy, someone who was strong and fought hard for the people he loved... even when he was tired.

He suffered so much while he was ill, but Taylor never heard him complain or express any desire to give up. He had once told her that pain was a good reminder that we are only human and at first, she didn't understand what he meant, but now she did.

You see, joy, love, happiness, gratefulness are all parts of our every day, but so are death, loss, heartache, and grief. We spend our life concentrating on the good, until we are faced with tragedy and are reminded that we are not living in a world with no hurt... we are after all human.