Sandra C Mateos died 01.06.2007, she was my daughter.
Parents aren't supposed to see their children go, it is not the way it should be.
Our children are supposed to take care of us on our older days, when disoriented we can't find our bearings and they use love to gently herd us into the security of their fold.
Having seeing the results of God's work for a very very long time, I don't think my daughter is in a better place.
She wasn't only my daughter, she was my friend and the one I got in trouble with when plucking neighbor's apples.
Born in the year 1963.
She was my little pal.

Someone said that you couldn't
lose a thing you never had,
but that you certainly will
the most precious thing in your life,
because God will take it away
if "it" was the cause of your smile.

I know that all fathers without knowing
chose a favorite, his little pal,
despite head shaking in disapproval
saying "It's not right...it's not right...
...to chose among the children's flock
a preferred one."

But you see, remembering Sandra C
mischievous eyes is all I ever had
to help me through a typhoon in China's sea
or in muddy foxholes in monsoon Vietnam;
when searching for comfort in a solitary world
I wrote my children's name in the sand...

...yet, from now on, despite how much love
to the other children a father may have,
the emptiness will be there, because it will
be not more shinning mischievous eyes
sharing a funny little secret
between father...and his little pal.