Legacy

My father always carried himself with both a strong demeanor and sense of fashion. He would be the person in the room who didn't have to say a word for everyone to feel his significance. Pops made it a point to instill the importance of how a man must carry himself into each one of his sons, beginning first with knowledge.

An avid reader and lover of learning, he'd regularly have an intellectual conversation waiting for you. It seems like he knew at least a little something about everything, and if he didn't, never had a problem admitting so. I distinctly remember having a paper to do in high school on Abraham Lincoln and asking my father for help. No lie, after explaining that I only had a week to do this paper, this man literally brought me five books on Abraham Lincoln, two of which were biographies. Still not sure who he was expecting to read all of those books in a week but needless to say, I took my "B" happily and never asked for help on another paper.

It stuck with me. Its crazy how you never noticed how much your parents words actually resonate with you in the long term. I definitely payed attention, not just to my fathers mannerisms, but also his coordination, which is the only reason I felt comfortable wearing an army fatigue shirt with some shoes that shared none of the same color way. Fatigue is nearly just as neutral a print as a solid grey or white shirt. This particular one came from j. crew and won me over simply because it was a button down.....with fatigue print and what better shoes to wear them with than the royal blue Jordan 1s (top five most versatile shoes).

Not a day goes by that I can't apply a lesson learned from my father to my day to day life. Im overly thankful for my upbringing as well as the sacrifices my parents made to ensure they raised great men. Ive recently gained a lot more responsibility and am ready to own every bit of it.

The legacy lives through me, and rest assure, it will live on forever.