Chris Schwing

“‘I hate you and never want to see you again.’ I told my dad this when I was about 10 years old. I really don’t even know why I said it.

I was probably mad about not being able to do something or, who knows, I didn’t like where we were going. What I do remember was his reaction.

At the time I made this comment, he had just returned home from working on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and a man named David about his age was walking around the platform and fell over 100 feet down and lost his life. This man had three kids.

My dad, while close to having tears in his eyes, said “I hope my friend David’s kid didn’t say that to him before he left his house.” I remember my heart dropping and running to my bedroom and just crying. That night I wrote my dad a letter expressing how much I loved him. I taped it to the back door so that he would see it the next day before leaving to go back out to another platform.

I have three kids now, and that moment with my dad still pushes me to remember how valuable life is and that we should cherish the moments we have with our loved ones.”