Coming up to 9 years since your ascent to heaven Popilo. I have been thinking of you often, especially now. A year has gone by since your daughter, my mother, Melissa left us here to join you up there, as well as Sparky. We were not prepared for their departure, and the void it would leave behind. I find myself wondering about the advice you would give me, if you could, about living in loss. You were a man of many answers, solutions, and quips. We didn’t have many in depth conversations, yet when we did, I was always fascinated by your candor. Given your experiences which you lived to tell the tales, hindsight always is 20/20. Before your time came, you had already lost so many of those close to you. Certainly there were times that you struggled, broke down, lashed out. Those things I saw in you, I also saw in mom. Loss is not the same to everyone. What some can brush off, is an event horizon to others. A singularity so strong that it can claim the lives of those it consumes, by various means. In my life, I have never willingly been a religious man, yet I do believe in spirituality. I have also prayed more times than I ever have in at least in the last year. I pray for strength. I pray for peace. I pray for understanding and compassion. You are a big part of me, always have been. As was Melissa. She came from you, and she was my heart. I hold on to the memories you and I were able to make in your later years, coming up to spend weekends with you as a kid, and a few like finally playing golf together on Kauai, putting blood sweat and tears into the setup of the bike shop, even coming to see you for holidays. I feel you are with me. I feel that she is with me. Please continue to give us strength, and please take care of her up there. I hope that, even up there, you have someone looking out for you too.