Kimberly Simmons
Dear Papa Roo, \r\n\r\nYou changed the trajectory of my life! The night you welcomed me into your home all those years ago. You, Linda and Kristin barely knew me yet you told Kristin to get me out of that \r\n\r\nplace I had been staying. I remember hearing; \"You may not slip back staying there but you won\'t be able to grow.\" I remember looking around a room with a fresh made bed and \r\n\r\n wondering how and why this was happening to me, how could I be so lucky to have found this loving family that loves me for the person I am right here, right now. I kept thinking, \'these \r\n\r\n people don\'t even know me and here they are welcoming me into their home, they see something in me that I don\'t, they love me more than I love myself\'. Thank you for being such a \r\n\r\nsupport to me and the life that I have been able to build with the help of you and your families support. Thank you for showing up to all my birthdays and being the first to congratulate me. \r\n\r\nThank you for always encouraging me all those years in school, always telling me; \"You can do it.\" Despite my complaints and doubts you always said; \"sweetheart you can do this\" and \r\n\r\n\"Oh yes you can\". Thank you seems so small compared to how absolutely grateful I am that I was found by you, your wife and your daughter. I promise I will always try to keep you proud.\r\n\r\nI hope my father has had the chance to welcome you and thank you for telling me that you would be my Papa when he passed. You told me you would listen if I needed to talk and that I \r\n.\r\nwasn\'t ever alone. Again, you were there to help me walk through the hardest of the hard things all the way until the end. Oh Pap Roo I love you and I miss you already. I will show up for \r\n\r\nyour family the way you taught me to, I promise I will be there for them the way you\'ve always been there for me. \r\n\r\nUntil we meet again, Kimberly