Ep56: The Search for Answers to Daniel Robinson's Disappearance ~ David Robinson II
Transcript
00:00:00 Speaker 1
Yes. Yes, thank you so much. Again. Like I said, for even sharing Daniel stories, you know, sharing my families, what's going on with my family. So that's that's really important. I truly appreciate you taking the time out to do that. But yes, I am David Robinson, the natives of South Carolina. My children. Of course. You know, all we all natives, we are family.
00:00:21 Speaker 1
That is made it so everything we have family wise it's basically out of Columbia South.
00:00:26 Speaker 1
Anna, myself, you know, being a parent, you know, it's it's one of the proudest moments of my life. Of course. Daniel has a older brother. Who who? Who was the 1st to give me that idea? Hey, look, when your father you have to do father things. You know I remember first holding his brother up like they did in roots and.
00:00:46 Speaker 1
And promised him that they would have anybody who come after him would have a father in their life, unfortunately, and they happen to a lot of people don't have fathers in their life. So I have to make sure that one thing that I wanted for my children.
00:00:59 Speaker 1
Whenever that time came, and sure enough, I end up having Daniel as well as his to his sisters and his old brother and Daniel being the youngest, you know, he's the he's the prize as well. The youngest male, and this Daniel himself. Like I say, all those in South Carolina, you know, I'm military retired man that you know of course joined.
00:01:19 Speaker 1
Army and I did tours in Afghanistan, but like I said, for me, that's pretty much the gist of it. I am it. Uh continues to be a major, but then completed, but that's what I am. That's what I went out to do in my life. My children are science oriented people and you know, so I kind of like I say, I greatly proud of.
00:01:40 Speaker 1
That's that with my children and everything else.
00:01:43 Speaker 1
And they're currently doing Daniel get directly on Daniel. You know, being the youngest of the group, you know, he's the baby boy. Like I said, early on, of course, of being proud parents. Daniel was born without a right hand. Many people notice that. And a lot of people don't because I don't speak about a whole lot. They don't.
00:02:02 Speaker 1
Live this life based on that and but you know it's one of the challenges not for so much for Daniel, but it's it's challenges for his mother and myself.
00:02:11 Speaker 1
And the seeing Daniel in that condition being born, he's born that way. It was very devastating for your parents and you know, the first thing you're looking for when a child come out is all of their capacities, whether their fingers, toes, everything. And so it was a shocking moment for us. And it also had became a training moment for us as parents because Daniel.
00:02:31 Speaker 1
Total something totally.
00:02:32 Speaker 1
Different than what we had ideas that your mother would like to push prostate as soon as we got to the opportunity to get to the age of of starting to try out the prosthetics because we had school in mind. Of course. You know we we trying to go to school and run about if they're gonna actually fit in with their peers. You know try to be kind of cruel at times so we want to make sure that Daniel's having the.
00:02:54 Speaker 1
Best the best of the best, so we'll make sure that he's definitely ready for school. But like I said, Daniel being who he is as a person showed up really early. I think he was probably like.
00:03:06 Speaker 1
About 5 or about possibly 6 when he went to his mother and asked about his right hand. I'm sure he's looking at the siblings the whole entire time and wondering why he didn't have a right hand, but they did. He did have another about it, his mother told him that God have it and he had to use it. He got need it right now and he get back to him. But after she told him that.
00:03:26 Speaker 1
He never asked the question ever again, never asked the question about it. He just moved on with the with everything done, have watched my son challenging his siblings, you know, just simple things like video games, you name it.
00:03:39 Speaker 1
And he just, it's amazing to watch him play using the joystick and being able to figure things out and do it his way. And he do it this way. He do it really well. But like I said, doing the school, the early parts, being worried, his mothers pushing the prosthetics, and then he found said, hey, you know, he just had enough of that. He would take it off off then and refused to put it on because he just wanted to be himself.
00:03:59 Speaker 1
And we saw that throughout his through the school days, by teaching himself how to play the French.
00:04:04 Speaker 1
One is one of the first instruments we have done. In fact, Daniel showed us also that he is going to be known a lot because we had he won student of the week in South Carolina, Columbia, SC, to highlight his accomplishment of playing that French Horn. So he's on the local news and was really proud moment for us as parents and.
00:04:24 Speaker 1
And there, like I said, through school, he's he look at his older siblings and he challenged them academically as well. He's he's trying to look at the grades. My son, the oldest son, he's.
00:04:37 Speaker 1
He's the leader, so they all looked up to him and he does really well. But Daniel, looking at the rest of them and want to outdo him and his twin sisters as well, so academically is one of those things that that's going back and forth. But it kind of benefit me and Daniel's mother because, you know, hey, of course, we want them to do well in school once he graduated at high school.
00:04:57 Speaker 1
Decided to join to go to College of Charleston and become a Geo.
00:05:02 Speaker 1
Just. But he's still kind of undecided, just like most freshmans are. He was a little undecided, but he took that class and after that he just fell in love with it. He fell in love with it so much that, yeah, he he did really well. He also showed us that, you know, he can be they were friendly person because he have his twin sisters going to school with him. The college Charles at that time.
00:05:22 Speaker 1
They also report that to me, you know, daughters are there is always at the parties and all with his friends and everybody know who.
00:05:29 Speaker 1
So he had a lot of friends. He started gathering a lot of friends really quickly, and that was a little adjustment for us as parents because, you know, hey, we spending money for school and what they see us using, you're going to be using that money wisely. Daniel, would, you know, say and do all the things you like to do. He's living that real college. The spirits you want to save for a young man and out to.
00:05:49 Speaker 1
There was only way he started his career and that's one of the biggest points as a parent because that's the moment when he started showing us that he is ready and he's he's ready for manhood and he showed us that.
00:06:00 Speaker 2
That's an awesome story. I'd love to hear the background about that because it's.
Yes.
00:06:04 Speaker 2
Like.
00:06:05 Speaker 2
Where did they get that? That push, that determination and it's like I want to say it's like father like son, because here we are. You got that same. It's amazing to hear more about more about a person other than you know what's going on today. I like to hear that we.
00:06:17 Speaker 1
Yes, thank you.
00:06:26 Speaker 2
We have lives, we we matter, right?
00:06:29 Speaker 1
That's right.
00:06:30 Speaker 2
So thank you so much for sharing that. I love that. I love that story and to hear that you have a military background and just like all military brat.
00:06:36 Speaker 2
So.
00:06:37 Speaker 2
It's it hits home and and a lot of the aspects that you talked about.
00:06:41 Speaker 2
And traveling all over the world, it's it's amazing. And I'm so and the science background like that hits home with me, the art side to mathematics side. It's just it's beautiful to see your children growing and and using their their talents and to go beyond the limits in their boundaries.
00:07:02 Speaker 2
That's awesome. As a proud parent, right? It's just.
00:07:05 Speaker 2
Like.
00:07:05 Speaker 1
Yeah, it was, yeah.
00:07:05 Speaker 2
It warms your heart like, Oh my gosh, you, you you expect things, you know, expect the best out of them. But even kids shock you in regards to how they can get things done so.
00:07:14 Speaker 1
There was.
00:07:16 Speaker 1
No.
00:07:17 Speaker 2
Thank you for sharing that.
00:07:19 Speaker 1
A lot of times we have these conversations, people walk in. I'm sure outside looking in and say, what are they talking about? We'll we'll take with at any given moment we can sit, sit there and analyze something, you know, and break it down to a certain degree. And and even when I say break it down into a science situation. So that's our conversation. I that's the most biggest part I I miss.
00:07:39 Speaker 1
When they're younger and we're growing up together and having those type conversations and stuff like that, so yes, definitely they surprise you with a lot of things they do.
00:07:47 Speaker 2
Know yes, exactly like they're sponges. They try to find, they try to like.
00:07:52 Speaker 2
Like pretend like they're not listening, but they they're listening, they're learning, and they have a a role model to follow. Such a great role model like yourself and and their mother. So it's like to see that it's just it. It warms your heart even more. So it's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that again. So.
00:07:54 Speaker 1
Yes.
Yes.
00:08:13 Speaker 1
Yes, yes, thank you.
00:08:15 Speaker 2
What do you think, Dan? You value most most in life, but I think you if you want to go in depth in in regards to what that is, I would love to hear.
00:08:24 Speaker 1
Yeah, sure, Daniel. Like I said, you know, even with everything, I was Speaking of on when in terms of him, you know, striving to do better, to challenge himself, you know, he will come to me, you know, I'm an inventor as well. A lot of people don't know that. But of course, I didn't achieve any patents. And I can tell you stories about that. But I didn't create it so many.
00:08:44 Speaker 1
Things so my children knew about that.
00:08:46 Speaker 1
I kind of watch him and what he would do, he'd come to me and say, hey, dad, I got a new idea as well.
00:08:51 Speaker 1
You know, and some things that he was doing was geared towards helping people who have missing limbs or things like that, how they can do things out for us. And you wanted to lift weights and he came to me as a young man and he created this, this whole system that I was really trying to help develop with them to help people with, with a prosthesis.
00:09:11 Speaker 1
Places that could aid them when they're lifting weights and so they can get these muscles in certain places and things like that, that they really want so.
00:09:19 Speaker 1
Before you went this and you want to become a business owner and you wanted to take a degree in geology and open up his own company and also some other aspects of trying to of entrepreneurship, you want to be a millionaire before you turn 30. That things like that, but but most of all with Daniel I can say is that the fact that you know being is such a family oriented.
00:09:40 Speaker 1
Person. That's why you know don't want to jump the gun. But that's the reason why I kind of put that in public a lot.
00:09:45 Speaker 1
Is to show people that Daniel is not a person to say, hey, I just want to be away from my family. You know, that's unheard of for the family and I because he's there with family oriented and I tell the story often how even during the COVID times he showed that recently, most recently when the COVID time after the stay at home we kind of got loose a little bit. You can go travel some first thing he did when he got loose in Arizona.
00:10:08 Speaker 1
To fly back into here in South Carolina to see his grandparents. I mean, just make a special trip to see his grandparents. I didn't really know he was coming until he was getting ready to leave and come down. And he came here to just go see his grandparents. He had two grandmother.
00:10:22 Speaker 1
That he wanted to go see and, you know, just as a protectionist person that he is as well. He he stayed outside the window. He said, hey, I'm not coming to your house. I don't wanna talk to you through the window because, you know, we didn't really understand COVID at the time. And you wanna make sure you keep this grandparents safe. But Daniel also is a young man that do out throughout this.
00:10:42 Speaker 1
Life is to we have any kind of family conflicts. You see two family members.
00:10:46 Speaker 1
Not really talking. Whatever little thing they got going on then he would what he would do is he had called was one other, but some kind of way. He'll bridge that that thing back together. So I watch him do things like that with the family as well. So that's the kind of person he is. So I want to throw that out as well. Some of the parts I may have missed.
00:11:03 Speaker 2
Hey, the boy the merrier. I I love to hear. I love it. I seriously do. When I was younger, I was the kid who would go to.
00:11:06 Speaker 1
Yep.
00:11:13 Speaker 2
The old, like the old senior community centers and the retirement centers and just listen to the stories of back in the day, the stories of people I admire them and it is it is.
00:11:27 Speaker 2
Just to hear people talk about their journey and the things that they have overcome, it is. It empowers myself.
00:11:38 Speaker 2
To say you know what, there is no limits. There is no well, it can't be done. Here we have a living proof of person who lived in much more dire situations and the war and the depression and.
00:11:53 Speaker 2
The aspects of being.
00:11:56 Speaker 2
Fleeing from countries and trying to survive under attack like it's currently happening now, it's just the stories are.
00:12:05 Speaker 2
Even though it's bittersweet and to, you know, the loss of lives of family members and the and the continuation of these types of circumstances. But it's.
00:12:16 Speaker 2
Like.
00:12:17 Speaker 2
The power of of the wheel. You know the will of a person. It just brings so much.
00:12:25 Speaker 2
It brings so much emotion to me because you know it, I I'm connected to that. I'm connected to it because I have a story of my own.
00:12:33 Speaker 2
And.
00:12:33 Speaker 2
It's like we can do it. We're just so determined to get things done, to accomplish things, to make it happen and.
00:12:43 Speaker 2
One of the things I as a child I.
00:12:46 Speaker 2
People will always say, well, you can't do that. You can't do this. And I always tell them, watch, watch me, you know, watch me. And I love that feeling. And I love to hear that same type of thing, that that, to listen to that. Thank you so much for that and share the more that you can. That's.
00:12:51 Speaker 1
Right.
00:13:03 Speaker 2
All I'm pretty.
00:13:03 Speaker 1
Yes, yes, yeah.
00:13:03 Speaker 2
Much saying is share more, more and more.
00:13:06 Speaker 2
Whatever. Whatever you feel comfortable in sharing. I am. I am the person, so.
00:13:06 Speaker 1
That's right.
00:13:11 Speaker 2
So just Skype, Dennis personality. But if you'd like to elaborate, I can. If not I'll I can go ahead and go to the.
00:13:12 Speaker 1
Yes.
00:13:19 Speaker 1
I can get, I can get one more thing is that I often ask about, you know, some of the some things that's towards things, personality and some of the challenges. You know, I would tell people just saying, just missing my son, you know, about my 2 hour conversations that I have my son. I mean, like all the time, that's all we do.
Yeah.
00:13:37 Speaker 1
And it's to the fact that if Dan would have been calling right now, and I'm doing this interview, I say I say send him a text or so, hey, I'm doing it. I'll call you back because or if it's something I have to do at a certain time when he called and it's right close to that time. I know I I have to talk to today for like 2 hours is gonna be a 2 hour conversation. That's this period. That's the flat line.
00:13:57 Speaker 1
The two hour conversation and also like I said, he know and I know we get me here, we get to talking. It's gonna be the minimum of two hours. So we definitely have to set aside certain things. But what I want to do is also with this character of a person is some of the things that I would say to people.
00:14:14 Speaker 1
I miss my son good and the bad moments, right? And sometimes when you have a miss, a loved one, you kind of look out and say, man, you know, I'll take anything, you know, some of the things I say, hey, a person and you just aggravate me right now or whatever case may be you missed those even those moments. But I remember when Daniel was in college like I said having that big college experience and hanging out with his peers.
00:14:36 Speaker 1
And in my mind, thinking about all the money being spent and is he using that money to party and things like this, but one one day he called me.
00:14:43 Speaker 1
And he tried to get it from me. But he'll call me. He get off with his mother for my cell. So he called me one day and said he needed groceries, you know? And he's hungry. He ran out of food and you know, of course, what parent would say no to that, you know? And so I remember sending him some money, and I happened to go on Instagram and look at my page.
00:15:03 Speaker 1
And then on the feed.
00:15:04 Speaker 1
See this, this this you know on the fade it comes up and he has had some girls in the background his part. I'm like, I know this guy's not taking the money at this game him go part I made this right an hour after that so I kind of laugh at this.
00:15:17 Speaker 1
At this moment.
00:15:19 Speaker 1
And I was like, I I said, I know Daniel did not my money to enjoy.
00:15:24 Speaker 1
Himself. But yeah, that's one thing for sure is. Then you have a way of, I think when I go back and look at that, his siblings would get in trouble a lot because, you know, he's the youngest. And we look at, you know, whole thing. We come in the room and they going at it about something and and he's look at him and say.
00:15:42 Speaker 1
Yeah, it can't be him. This is Daniel. Dan did this. Blah, blah, blah. No, we don't want to believe that. Not Daniel. But yeah, he's really, really have a way of getting the siblings in trouble. And I'm him facing the consequences. But that's one of the things that I just think about that Daniel enjoying himself with his friends. You know, even when it's his college.
00:16:01 Speaker 1
His word as well, and he would take frequent trips with his friends so they would they went to Puerto Rico. I've been.
00:16:06 Speaker 1
Puerto Rico, they've been to Puerto Rico and that I don't know how he got there cause he asked me. They told him no. I told him no, he's not getting money. Go to Puerto Rico. I looked on social media. He is in Puerto Rico with his friends. He told his mother and his siblings that he's gone and his mother.
00:16:21 Speaker 1
Gave him the.
00:16:21 Speaker 1
Money. So we used in Puerto Rico and then she called me back. You know, his mother and I divorced, of course.
00:16:27 Speaker 1
But she called me back and said dad is stuck in Puerto Rico and.
00:16:30 Speaker 1
You know, so.
00:16:31 Speaker 1
How I found.
00:16:31 Speaker 1
Out he stuck in Puerto Rico. You can't get back, you know, he needs some money. He can't send some money. Get.
00:16:36 Speaker 1
And I said no, I said no. I said no. Because, you know, I said, hey, he's he got there. He figured how to get there and he got you. He can get back. He's still in the United States. You know. So. So he found his way back so. But but I said that also show me that he can also figure his own way. So he have done that.
00:16:56 Speaker 1
When you get when you with the out there in Arizona.
00:16:59 Speaker 1
You know, he kind of looked up to me. I could see a lot of myself and Daniel, you know, I gave them the background, like, give you some little back details too. I became a single parent. And so I was raising him and his siblings at one moment of their childhood growing up. And one thing I was stealing in them was some of those values. When it comes to especially my sons.
00:17:19 Speaker 1
To be the man you know, though I came from a single mother's home. My mother had purposely put me in front of some of the some of the men at church who I was considering as great men, and they taught me some great things and how to care to yourself as a father cared yourself as a man who's doing some things so.
00:17:37 Speaker 1
Make sure Daniel and his brother got got those teachers as well about manhood and man standing on 2 feet like my mother told me. So a man do not steal anything, you know, if he wants something, he work hard with his hands. He he go get it and you make it. And so Daniel, when he got to Arizona I could saw some of those things coming out that he was taught as a young man.
00:17:56 Speaker 1
He wanted to, you know, make sure he stand his own 2 feet as a man, you know, I saw that man who had coming out, you know, and he's he's really proud. And he called me and and, you know, I remember when I want to get him a car when he first got there, he said no, I'm good and found out he went and bought him some little cheap little hoop demon.
00:18:13 Speaker 1
They call and I hope to you, you know, you know, he he used those skills that I taught him the sister how to repair and fix things themselves. So those have to do that fix those and repair those vehicles that vehicle to keep it running just to make sure he's getting on getting to work on time and things like that. So that's what he did until he end up buying the Jeep renegade that you guys.
00:18:34 Speaker 1
I'll see you in the store today.
00:18:36 Speaker 2
Wow. Like what? The you are absolutely right in regard like it's like Father, like Son. I just. I can see it resonate and how you represent, you know Daniel and.
00:18:52 Speaker 2
From previous conversations with, you know your platform that you have when you're doing your actual like live conversation.
00:19:01 Speaker 2
Just to talk about, talk about Daniel and the connection that you, you and you have the two hour conversation like, Oh my gosh, if only I could get my kids to do that for two minutes on the phone. They're like, they're grunting, you know? Yeah.
00:19:14 Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:19:17 Speaker 1
Well, I can tell you similar don't do that, though they don't talk that long. I mean, even if my daughters, you know, twins, they don't talk as long, they'll give me 30 minutes if that. But yeah, not as long. So that's just Daniel.
00:19:28 Speaker 2
Yeah, man, I wish I had. I wish I had a father, father figure and I love.
00:19:33 Speaker 2
That your mother?
00:19:35 Speaker 2
Had put that embedded that type of uh, you know, morals and ethics ethics in regards to being brought up around men, specifically men with such a good following and in leadership in the church. And you know, just having strong men.
00:19:56 Speaker 1
Yes, yes, yes.
00:19:56 Speaker 2
In your presence, because in you're you're spot on in regards to how.
00:20:02 Speaker 2
You know, a lot of people don't have that father figure. You don't have a mother who is a strong woman to say, hey, you know, I can put, I can step back and and make sure that my son or or my daughter or whoever it is, he's got the proper role models in their life and to keep them in that positive.
00:20:22 Speaker 2
That positive direction, so just to have a strong woman as your mother, it's just like.
00:20:23 Speaker 1
That's right.
00:20:28 Speaker 1
That's right.
00:20:30 Speaker 2
It's it's.
00:20:32 Speaker 2
Uh, like, I'm proud for you and you know everything else down the line. You know, your children are taking the benefits from how you were brought up and how your mother was brought up and so forth and so on. And just to hear that I'm a very emotional person. But I'm glowing.
00:20:51 Speaker 2
With with like just so much pride in and.
00:20:55 Speaker 2
I mean.
00:20:56 Speaker 2
And hearing that because we don't get to hear.
00:20:58 Speaker 2
That.
00:20:59 Speaker 2
You know, we don't get to hear the other story, the the back story of our people of color and how we were raised.
00:21:06 Speaker 1
Oh, yes, yes, my mother. Like I said, you said she's uh, she did everything she can. Like I said to make sure that my sister is my sister. I I could tell you that part. The only two.
00:21:16 Speaker 1
And she did it that she can, from a mother's perspective, she can't be a dad. But she did some things to what I think that she wanted to make sure that I was being getting the right nurture, nurturing that I should get, as you know, from from a male role model is what I what I'd like to say because I did have one in church in particular. He's a great role model for me.
00:21:36 Speaker 1
And you know, just the fact that she was there to do the best she can as a woman, you know, try to try it first is I tell people this now from my mother's standpoint, this was simple things of something we take for granted.
00:21:48 Speaker 1
How how to treat a lady in a sense. For instance, opening doors. You know, this old school from where I come from, but I've learned from my mother and I tell people now my children as well. We grandma just taught taught me that because you know, that's all things she wanted to see in a man. She made sure I I learned those, but they they came in handy in my life and. And so like I said, she just wanted to make sure that we were raised right.
00:22:08 Speaker 1
We got the right things going on in our mentality. We're not stealing or or or going out, do some type of crime. You know, we're trying to get a seed in life and things like that. So she was really typical.
00:22:19 Speaker 1
With that, despite of the fact that she struggled, you know, saying she's a woman, like saying this, being a single parent, I've been for many days, she would cook meals and but she didn't eat. And then we said, Mama, you don't eat too said oh, I'm not hungry, you know, not realizing as an adult. I know because we just didn't have enough food and we want to make sure that we're.
00:22:36 Speaker 1
Eating and it's, you know, even when it came to her.
00:22:39 Speaker 1
Not eating at all. I remember a couple times you might take one little bite of a bread or something like that. And you know this little simple little things. But I'm saying some of those ethics and things the way she did things looked back. And I can look at the reason why I could be the way I am and the way they hurt my children can be the way they are. Cause I do tell them those things and and and things I learned. I share them with them as well.
00:23:00 Speaker 2
Yeah, that resonates with me. I've been a single mother. Well, pretty much.
00:23:07 Speaker 2
I've been a mother for almost 28 years, so my oldest is going to be turning 28 in March, so I don't look like it.
00:23:15 Speaker 1
I I just, I just say, you know, the whole time I'm trying to put that in my head, I was like, wait a minute. He's like he's about 18 in himself.
00:23:19 Speaker 2
I don't. Yeah, I don't look.
00:23:21 Speaker 2
It.
00:23:24 Speaker 2
Yes, yes, yes, thank you. But one of the things that so I struggle, so I understand that and you being a single parent too.
00:23:34 Speaker 2
You definitely you definitely understand it. It brings perspective in regards to how things were as when your mother was dealing with.
00:23:43 Speaker 2
Single parenting. I was told there was instances where I would say eat what you can and whatever you have on the plate, I'll eat it.
00:23:52 Speaker 1
That's right.
00:23:53 Speaker 2
So I know I know how that is.
00:23:59 Speaker 2
It was hard. It was hard.
00:24:02 Speaker 2
But they all survived. I survived.
00:24:05 Speaker 1
That's right.
00:24:06 Speaker 1
You know this just from a even from a male standpoint, when I was a single parent, people laugh at me now, but I remember my neighbors always come cause my children, they know about what is corned beef hash and stable beef Stew. That's what it was. Beef Stew in the can you know.
Well, you know.
00:24:23 Speaker 1
And I remember a neighbor used to come and see a look at what I'm cooking dinner for dinner and said you can't cook these Stew like that and you'll make this big thing. And with all these fresh vegetables in it and stuff and say that's beef Stew. And now the first time I ever had beef Stew without it being in a can, you know? So, but that's my that's my some of my go TOS because I just got not.
00:24:43 Speaker 1
That's a guy, to be honest with you. My mom told me that the crazy part what I have learned to cook it came from my mother. I would be in the kitchen. My sister.
00:24:50 Speaker 1
But but I will learn more of those cooking skills from her. Whatever I had, I wouldn't have best cooked, but whatever I had. That's what I had to do for my children. But I can see just the little that I was having at the time. What my mother was going through by herself, you know, it's it was a lot. Yeah, I can. I can mess mess and and back when she was doing it as well. So.
00:25:10 Speaker 1
Yes, a lot.
00:25:12 Speaker 1
For parent.
00:25:12 Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, my gosh.
00:25:15 Speaker 2
You appreciate life more. You understand it, you respect it. You respect things around you, your moral and ethics are heightened in knowing the type of struggle that you know your parents went through, and then you have the realization of wow, you know, perspective is definitely different. But yeah, thank you for sharing.
00:25:36 Speaker 2
Hello there I love this. I love this. Thank you. Thank you.
00:25:41 Speaker 1
You know you you have there about, you know, sometimes that there's some really particular that Daniel is especially joyful.
00:25:47 Speaker 1
That would be one of those things with Daniel. He has a lot of joyful moments and and the reason why I say it that way because you know, he's like I said, when he was younger, he always some kind of award he's getting, he's really happy about that. I've been the only one I've missed. Like I said the actual when is getting to get going on television to play the instrument.
00:26:08 Speaker 1
Is French.
00:26:08 Speaker 1
On I missed that because I was in Afghanistan. I was fighting this for this country and I missed that. I came back to when I once I made it back to the States and I was in Fort Hood. At this time, I don't even call.
00:26:19 Speaker 1
It.
00:26:19 Speaker 1
Fort Hood anymore. But I was there and I heard about it through some of my high school friends, you know, on Facebook saying, hey, your son.
00:26:29 Speaker 1
Blah blah blah and I'm like what, you know, like and, but yeah, that's that's one of one of the highlights that I remember him and younger years accomplishment this by being on television.
00:26:39 Speaker 1
And so that that really made him very happy at the moment. He graduated. Of course. You know that night. But I was trying to eat it all up. I was trying to eat all his time up. And he he, you know, of course you have a lot of friends. Like I said after graduation his mother left and it's, you know, the other family members left. And I just hung around and I said, you know what? My son graduate from college.
00:26:59 Speaker 1
Me and him going out together. I have my own plans about it and and and he said he and I sat at a dinner at 1st and.
00:27:06 Speaker 1
Afterwards, I say hey man, let's go out. Let's have some fun. And he he stayed with me for a good, I'll say a good 34 the minute that's the first time I've seen him say, well, you know, I could tell he had that thing where you wanna go hang.
00:27:17 Speaker 1
With his friends.
00:27:18 Speaker 1
So I said, you know what? I I, you know, I felt a certain way about, like, you know, yeah, I'm going to take this two hour trip back to Colombia and now.
00:27:26 Speaker 1
Lee, but I I can see that that moment of being able to say, hey, I finally achieved that degree and graduate and that was one of the biggest highlights for him as well. And you know, if I can go back and relive that moment with him, really would do that because I I just watched him.
00:27:43 Speaker 1
How you know he accomplished that goal and that's what he wanted to do when he did it. So that's one of the things I want to liberate on.
00:27:50 Speaker 1
That.
00:27:50 Speaker 1
As well, Daniel, he's where he went to Arizona. That's why I know he really loves geology. Dan will always. I mean, like, oh, my gosh, calling me all the time. He always somewhere in Arizona some.
00:28:03 Speaker 1
I mean some beautiful places. He saw me on the phone and these amazing rocks, you know, formations. And I think of you guys probably can get an idea in your head. He I don't know where is this impossible. But on the Grand Canyon area because he's down in some crack of the Earth and.
00:28:18 Speaker 1
I don't know, but I'm like, you know, it scares me as a parent, to be honest with you, you know, like, you know. And I asked him a lot of times. I'm like, who's with you? I'm not here by myself. I'm like, what? You know, you know, that's not. That's not something I would do and I, but hey, man, you know, I don't. I don't like that at all. But, you know, there's other people, you know, that you don't know. Whatever the case may be out in the areas.
00:28:39 Speaker 1
That's that's what he do. He loves nature and he loves that. So one thing he if he was, he and I would get together. I'm sure it would be would have been trying to get me to do the whole.
00:28:49 Speaker 1
Entire time and.
00:28:49 Speaker 1
That's who, first of all, he loved Arizona. He tried his best for since he's been there, tried to get me to move to Arizona and that would never happen, I told him.
00:28:58 Speaker 1
But I'm a water guy. I'm a water guy. I love the ocean. I love Florida. I'm Florida boy. I got near the water. Just this is me. But he want me out there because he wanted to go hiking and hiking is one of his his favorite pastime. His sister was in.
00:29:11 Speaker 1
Phoenix at time.
00:29:12 Speaker 1
So he, you know, those two would go out hiking together. A lot of people in Arizona just love.
00:29:16 Speaker 1
Thinking and I didn't know anything about hiking. And then, you know, I told my wood he he, you know, it's a guy thing we he said. Dad I I know this hiking trail or some some mountain and he challenged me I said man I mean I dust you on that you know and I said I'm an 18 year old was crying in the military because they couldn't get me you know but.
00:29:36 Speaker 1
But The thing is, The thing is that was one of our goals is to go out and go hiking and things like that. So I could see that happening. Unfortunately, he wanted me to do it also. He wanted to g
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