She lost her father when she was very young. It wasn’t just his presence that disappeared—it was the conversations they never got to have, the advice never given, the laughter never shared. In his absence, the weight of what could have been lingered, a haunting melody of unfulfilled expectations.

Without his steady hand, the world felt uncertain, even unsafe. She yearned for guidance, for that unspoken sense of security a father’s presence could provide. But instead, life pushed and pulled her like a rock in a restless river, unable to absorb the emotions rushing past. Everyone around her seemed to have their anchor, their compass. She stood still, battered but enduring, yet longing for something, or someone, to make her feel whole again.

The void left by her father was vast and unfillable. She imagined what it might have been like to have a father figure who could discuss politics and history with her, or share insights about fashion and design. She wished for conversations that wandered into the realm of music, where a symphony could become a metaphor for life itself. Even moments of quiet would have been enough: sitting together, sipping coffee, and gazing at mountains that loomed as silent witnesses to the years slipping by.

But the reality was different. That figure never arrived, and the void remained, a reminder of all that she lost and all that she yearned for. Yet, in her longing, she found resilience. Her life became an ode to the conversations she could only imagine, a quest to understand the world on her own terms. The emptiness shaped her but did not define her, and she carried her father’s absence not as a burden but as a silent inspiration to create a life he would have been proud of.

~Corina