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Life 3 Years Later After the Passing of My Dad 4-15-23 (recorded 4-15-26) · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: You know, you've taught me persistence. Over the year, I
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: made as most much as as I could out of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: my travels as because I could watching he walked a
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: lot colder, and then then there was always Wendy's and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I hoped in your reflection in you I love very much.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: It's amazing to me. On April fifteenth, twenty twenty six,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: at seven to twenty six pm, the time that my
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: dad passed three years ago, listening to that montage, how
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: strong his voice remained even up until his last weeks.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Those were three different recordings from different time frames over
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: those couple of years, and his voice never really softened.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: It was still very strong voice, a very poignant and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: sharp voice, just like his mind. He had a very
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: sharp mind right up until the end. But I left
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: off earlier today talk about April fourteenth, Well, let me
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: talk about April fifteenth, twenty twenty three. I got out
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of the shower in Queens and I got the call
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: from the nurses saying you should come and see him
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: today in the next few hours, because we're not sure
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: how long he's got basically, and I think they thought
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: he was holding on for me, because he actually asked
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: for me earlier in the day that Saturday, so I
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: got in a car, I rolled, I drove, you know,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I took an uber all the way to Sooning, down
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: to State Hospital, who did a great job caring for him,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: like he then did an amazing job caring for my dad,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I have to say. And yet here we are three
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: years later. I still wish he was here. But that
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: day I got in the room and I see him,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and he's got the oxygen mask on, and he's not
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: feeling too good, obviously, But over the course of four hours,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: he took off the oxygen mask and was breathing his
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: last breaths. And by the way, when I jumped in
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: the car, I called Nick Demorro and said junior family
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: friend of ours, and said to him, you know, they
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: gave me the call. And I was hysterical, crying like
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I couldn't really compose myself. But then those four hours
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: five hours seemed very long and very calm, because even
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: in his state of relying on the oxygen mask and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: eventually taking it off and breathing his last breaths, he
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: told me, relaxed, is gonna be okay? And I did,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and I laid next to him as he was breathing
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: heavy and then seven twenty six pm, seven twenty six
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: pm April fifteenth, twenty twenty three, John Garrett, my dad,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Johnny Lee Garrett, took his last breath and last heartbeat,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and I don't know if I was shocked in the moment,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: but the doctors rusted in and all that, and I
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: watched them pronounce and his soul had crossed over. For
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: three years, I've been seeing signs that he's still here,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and I love that part. I love that he lets
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: me know he's still here. For three years, I've had
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: an incredible support system from my work family to yes,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: even though we're not engaged anymore and not living together.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Gabby was there for a long time getting me through
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: all of this. My parents, Mom and Vic got me
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: through this. My sister Abby, the games family. You know,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a Yankee Stadium always welcoming us still. And one of
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the biggest signs I know he was with us was
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: we were at Game three of the twenty twenty four
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: World Series. Win twenty four World Series and we see
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: this cup, souvenir cup, and I'm like, that's my dad
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: watching right next to me. So it's not like He's
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: totally this beard. There are signs, but his physical presence
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I felt missed. Since I've been in this part of life,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: in this point of life, like, I've noticed his absence
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: more and it's caused waterworks. I've cried on Easter morning.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: We missed having to breakfast with him, you know, I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: miss going to Saint John the Divine with him. I
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: had felt his absence when I was rolling through Zuccatti
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Park yesterday because he loved Zuccatti. He loved hanging out
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: there in the sunlight, reading his newspaper or books, doing crosswords,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: waiting for me to finish up Episcopo show right before
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I started my shift. We go to Burger King and
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: go out and eat at Zuccati Park. And there are
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: so many memories about my dad I could talk about.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: And my friend Sherry asked me, like, what's one of them,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: and I said, well, in two thousand and three of
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the blizzard, remember the February blizzard, my dad took me
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: to a local wend. He's actually in Queens and he
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: always carried around these folders with him and in the
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: folder were Greyhound tickets to Yankee spring training. And I
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: remember in the blizzard and the cold. It was freezing
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and we were able to get down to Tampa. We're
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: going to Tampa. I was so excited about it. And
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: of course, another favorite memory was watching him touch the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Stanley Cup. As I told you, my dad's a huge
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: hockey guy. He loved the NHL, he loved playing hockey.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I roll a blade because of him and his love
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: of hockey. He adapted that into my rollerblading and I've
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: been doing that for twenty six years. This November when
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: I brought him to the Stanley Cup. He was a
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: little tired that day, I guess, but he touched the
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: cup and I thought, man, that man is someone who
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: deserves to touch the Stanley Cup. Blackhawks fan and incredible
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: life experience. Yeah, you touched the cup, Pups, you deserve that.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: And he did and he did, and it was just
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a proud moment. Those are two of my favorites. And
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: though I'm recounting his final days, how I remember him
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the most the moments where he would gather up and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: carry multiple shopping bags of whether it was Christmas stuff,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: for food or whatever. And I wasn't old enough at
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the time. He'd also carry me on his shoulder all
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the while with his bags in tow. And I'll remember
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: that and I'll remember that part of him also. That's
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: where I looked at him as a heroic figure. He
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: would be coming up this hill to the Viscardi School
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and I saw him and I thought, that's my dad
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: right there. He'd always show up to the variety telethons.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Yes I'm not the last minute, but when he showed up,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: my smile went from a little nervous to absolutely grinning
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: ear to ear. There's something about my dad, John Garrett
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: that always made me beam whenever he walked in the room.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: And I thank him for choosing an incredible person to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: have a kid with. And my mom, they came together
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and here I am, and I think he couldn't have
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: picked a better person to be my mom, And I
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: want to thank him for that. I never said that before,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: but I want to thank him for that too. And
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: my stepdad Vic, who's been in the picture for a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: long time, a very long time, has also supported me
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: through this, as is my sister Abby, and as is
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: all our friends. As I mentioned, the games, the Yankee Stadium,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a city field, all the places my dad and I
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: went to always welcome us, always welcome us. I gotta
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: also thank my dad's colleague and now close friend, Steve
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: for always being there as well as we can share memories.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: And you know, my dad was a trip, but we
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: laugh about that too, and we both miss him a lot.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: You are very missed, Pops, and I love how he
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: set the foundation for me to have all these connections
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: into my thirties and laid the groundwork for something that's
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: continuing to grow here at one Lego Balx Media. I
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: miss your, Pops, and I love you so much, and
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I miss your physical presence, but I do know you're
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: always watching over us. We are, and we all see
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Johnny Wholesome day to his wife and kids are showing
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: into Kay. We eat, and we drink, and late in
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the day with the Saddle Sailors song and we and
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: all see Johnny Wholesome Day would remind us and we'd
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: left there. We'd watch the kids play, talk about how
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: we're gonna spend our days. We all see Johnny Home
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: didn't