I realize that we all must leave. But my answer is my father, just to be able to say goodbye to him, because his passing was unexpected and we had just in the previous few years become incredibly good friends who did a lot of things together and achieved a closeness that I never knew existed with a person’s parents. When he had lost both of his legs to diabetes he had lost a lot of his self-esteem with them, not feeling like a man because he could no longer provide for his family in the way that he felt was appropriate.
At some point he came back and changed, began to embrace life again, started dating again, my mom having left him after 42 years of marriage for someone else. It was the second time I had ever seen him cry, the first being the time when he had lost the second of his legs. He was such a fine man who had such a difficult life, even in his childhood, he broke the circle of abusing his children and was loyal to his friends. He was a simple man who never finished high school, but earned the respect of people he met because of his fine character, also facing and overcoming his racist tendencies that he had grown up with. He taught me how to forgive and be compassionate towards others.
Yes, it would be my father, so that I could properly say goodbye and tell him how much I would miss him.