A Father’s Eulogy to His Daughter (unedited)

By: Peter from Connecticut

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Greetings All, first I’d like to thank you all for taking time out of your busy lives to spend a few hours with my family today. I’ve probably never met many of you but I know you had some kind of connection with my beloved daughter Nicole. And I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being with us today. Your presence is needed and very much appreciated.

And before I forget if any of you have any fond memories of your time spent with Nicole, please post them to her Facebook, if you haven’t done so already. I haven’t had the strength yet to read the posts, but I’m looking forward to reading every word from every one of you. Also, if you have extra copies of photos of you with Nicole please pass them along. I would very much enjoy looking at them.

I’ve always considered myself more of a listener than a talker, and I am certainly not the type of guy who speaks in front of a crowd. But I have a few things I need to say today for Nicole, and I would do anything for her, including speaking in front of a crowd of people.

There are many funny stories that I can share with you about Nikki, but I am not going to do that today. Instead, I have something even more important to speak to you about – DRUGS, NARCOTICS, and whatever other names they go by. I have come up with a very fitting name for all of the different kinds of street drugs that circulate out there and somehow end up in the hands of many of our children – POISON.

In case some of you don’t know, one poison in particular, also referred to as Heroin, took the life of my Nikki. It managed to enter her life, addict her, take control of her mind and many of her actions, make her sick, and finally kill her. It transformed her from a beautiful, healthy, confident, and outgoing young lady, into a frail, broken-out, introverted sick girl who had come to believe, albeit wrongfully so, that she was a failure and had no friends.

Nicole’s mother and I did all we could, right up until the end, to save her from her sickness of addiction. Nikki had been in and out of hospitals, detox centers, out-patient rehabs, drug-education classes, therapists’ offices, and she had tried many different types of doctor-prescribed medications. These were all un-successful. The poison’s hold on her was too powerful.

I’d like to address the teens and the twenty-something’s here today. I’m here to say that drugs are not recreation or problem solvers. Simply put, drugs will make you sick and can kill you. Never turn to them, ever! If you are feeling down because you didn’t do as well as you thought you did on a test, didn’t get the job that you really wanted, or didn’t get the time of day from the boy or girl that you really had a crush on – then call a friend. Go to a movie. Read a book. Go hiking. But just be patient, because you’ll ace the next test, get an even better job, or meet the boy or girl that was really meant for you.

And if, heaven forbid, you are currently having a problem with drugs. Don’t delay, talk to your parents, grandparents, siblings, and any other loved ones. Trust them. Don’t be afraid of what their initial reaction will be. They’ll be emotional at first, but then they’ll get right to work at seeking out the help you need. Nikki didn’t do this. Nikki kept things from us because she didn’t want to hurt us or have us worry about her. She told us the things that we wanted to hear and not the things that were really going on with her. We had to figure out these things on our own and we lost precious time because of it.

To all of you parents out there, if your son or daughter is having a problem with drugs. Never stop fighting for them, no matter how hopeless the situation may appear. If it becomes exhausting, get a good night’s sleep, and wake up swinging the next day. We never stopped fighting for Nicole, right to the end, and we would have never stopped fighting for her.

In closing, I know my Nikki is with God today because even though her mind and body were ravaged by this disease, her heart remained pure and her devotion to God never faltered. And this brings me peace. I also want to thank you God for lending Nikki to us for 21 wonderful years. And even though I know I will see her again one day, I am broken-hearted. Because she left us at such a young age, it pains me to know that she will never experience many of the joys in life like feeling the warmth and love of a husband, having the privilege of raising children of her own, and being the maid-of-honor at her twin sister Ashley’s wedding.

I love you and will miss you my darling daughter until we meet again in heaven.

Thank you and may God bless you all.