@claudiaszurkowski Though I never got the chance to look into your eyes, feel your hand in mine, or hear the sound of your voice, I carry you with me every day — not as a memory, but as a presence. You were taken on September 11th, a day etched in history for its heartbreak. But for me, it’s not just a national tragedy — it’s the day I lost the chance to know my father. The day the world lost so many, and I lost someone I never even got to meet. Still, I feel you. In the stories others tell about you — how kind you were, how brave, how full of life. In the photos where your smile feels somehow familiar. In the parts of me that feel like they must have come from you — a quiet strength, a stubborn hope, a heart that tries to do right even when it’s hard. You may not have been there for my first steps, my scraped knees, or birthdays with too many candles — but your love still echoes. I like to believe you would’ve held me close, told me I was enough, reminded me to be kind, and laughed with me at the little things. I imagine your voice cheering me on when I doubt myself. I imagine your arms around me when I feel alone. I grieve the life we never got to share, but I honor the life you lived — and the way your love still somehow finds its way to me through time, through absence, through silence. You are more than just a name or a face in a frame. You are my dad. And I’ll spend my life making you proud. I miss you, even though I never got to know you. I love you, even though we never said the words. You live on — in me. Always. #fypシ #imissyou #neverforget ♬ swatting at flies - ethan mcneal