Life is all about moments of impact and how they change our lives forever. My biological father walking out of my life was my moment of impact; unaware of it then, but that very moment altered everything about the life I'm living today. It gave me the opportunity and the privilege to build more than a blood tie to my grandfather, Lotomama Inosia Sappa. Without that one man walking out of my life I would have never looked to my grandfather as my hero and role model. He was the man that did not scurry away into the night like a frightened mouse, but rather stepped up to the plate and took on the role as my dad. Like any father to their child, he taught me everything I know from how to ride a bike to never giving up faith even when everything says it is impossible. Although our relationship was far from the typical grandfather-granddaughter one, it is the one relationship that is imprinted on my heart and influenced me to be the young adult I am today.
My childhood was not the ideal one like some 60's television show. I did not grow up living with my mother or father. I did not grow up knowing who my father was or where he was at that. I did not grow up having the normal childhood most children do, but I did have my grandparents and for me that was everything I needed. They may not have birthed me, but they were the ones who raised me, nursed me, watched over me and loved me unconditionally as one of their own. They were the ones who got their hands dirty and stayed with me through the roughest and toughest times like parents should. Even though both my grandparents played major roles in raising me, I hold my grandfather as a more significant influence because I lacked a dominant male figure in my life. All my life I grew up in a house full of women whether it was my grandmother or her six daughters, so I never felt the lonesome of not having a mother figure around. As for the longing of my father's love, it was no longer an empty pit in my heart because I had the true and unconditional love of my real dad, Lotomama Sappa.
