It is a pretty special thing to be able to think back on your time with a person and to have no negative memories of them whatsoever come to mind. In fact, some would say that this is an impossible feat; something which cannot possibly be done by any functioning person.

My dad was living proof that this is not the case.

From my perspective, experiences of a person can be built around the feelings between you and the person which manifest themselves into positive and negative experiences. The end result of this philosophy is that, if a person always has your best interests at heart, even experiences which appear to be negative are in fact positivity in disguise.

This outlook on interactions between people applies wonders to the relation between me and my dad. Although we, undoubtedly, had disagreements, moments of tension or even moments of outright anger - none of these experiences were ever motivated by anything other than my dad’s love for me and the rest of the family.

Ever since his death, I have looked back on my dad’s life with new eyes. And, these new eyes caused me to see him in a very different way. As, although many negative memories of him turned positive, absolutely no positive memories of him turned to negative. Initial negative feelings are now seen with a bigger picture, revealing his true motivations of love and care.

Although I will never speak to him again, my dad will always be there, confined in the newly remastered positive memories of him within all of us. And, if anything is a sign of a great human being, a great dad and a great person in general, it is that they can be looked back upon with pure positivity.