Catherine lost her father to an overdose when she was a young girl. She describes him as responsible man who made sure she had everything she wanted. When she became pregnant at the age of 17, Catherine was sad she didn’t have her father by her side, but feels he’s watching her from the sky. “No matter what, Papi will always be there for me and my son,” she says. “He will always be my idol and my hero.”

Video Transcript

Those memories with my Papi were awesome times. Spending time with him was always fun. He took me everywhere I wanted to go. He used to take me to an ice cream place called “Roger’s.” It was the best ice cream there was. Papi never let pick the ice cream I wanted to eat. He always picked a vanilla cone with rainbow sprinkles for me. That used to be my favorite ice cream, every time. My laughter was so much; we all used to laugh at the stupidest funny things. We laughed and said, “This is Puerto Ricans.” We were always the loudest ones. I miss those days, the memories that we had.

When Papi was around, Papi will always be there whenever I needed him. He was a good and responsible man, and he made sure I had everything I wanted. I was so close to him. Every since that bad day happened, losing someone important in your life, which was hard for me to understand. I never knew until my mother told me that he died of an overdose, which was hard for me not to forget about the happiness we had together. All the bad things he was hiding without anybody knowing what he did for his life. I cried so much. I never wanted to lose him, ever. I’m sad now still cause he wasn’t there for me, being 17, pregnant, and now 18, even though he’s still watching me from up the sky.

The other day I took my son to Roger’s. I got him a vanilla ice cream cone with the same Rainbow sprinkles. He made a mess all over himself. He had sprinkles all over his mouth and ice cream dripping down his chin. No matter what, Papi will always be there for me and my son. He will always be my idol and my hero.