The titled phrase: "my surrogate daughter" refers to Ms. Tosha Fowler, a young woman I consider to be my daughter because of the the kind, compassionate, and loving person she is. When my wife Sheila became very ill with IBC back in 2004 -- Tosha, who had been my theatre student at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah and our employee at The Senator's Gate Bed and Breakfast -- did a wonderful and courageous thing. She put aside her Atlanta acting career (one year at Actor's Express and a second year with The Academy Children's Theatre) and returned to Savannah to help me and my wife Sheila through Sheila's final year of life.
Tosha took up a position at our B and B (at a much higher level than before) -- helping me to earn an income while I tried to comfort Sheila through her painful and tortured attempts to control her cancer. It was a horrible and incomprehensibly difficult time. I would not have done as well as I did without Tosha; Sheila would not have lived as long as she did---without Tosha. Tosha became our daughter during that time -- a position I always somehow felt she had earned long before her actions.
I don't know if I was the best of caretakers during that time -- but Tosha was certainly the best of helpers. Tosha will always be my daughter -- and Sheila's daughter as well. She has already made both of us very, very proud.
No comments:
Post a Comment