The mission of the Legacy Letter Challenge comes from a personal tragedy…
Some knew my dad as a great football player – Terry Bradshaw’s tight end at Louisiana Tech and then drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. Some knew my dad as CEO of the hospital where he worked, and some knew my dad as their Sunday School teacher at our church…but to me, my dad was just my dad. He was my hero.
When I was 19 my parents took the family on an amazing trip to Hawaii. On the first day, my dad and I went out snorkeling on Hanauma Bay. We were having an unbelievable time when, all of a sudden, we got caught up in a rough spot known as Witches Brew. My father started yelling for help and before I knew it, he was under water. I tried to save him, but I couldn’t overpower the water, and he literally died in my arms.
It went from being one of the best days of my life to the worst.
A few hours later, we were back in the condo and I was trying to make sense of what just happened. At that moment, my mother came into the room and handed me a “gift” from my dad. I had no idea at the time, but my dad had just finished working on a letter for me and my siblings that he had been working on for several months.
The words in this letter were exactly what I needed at that time in my life and 18 years later his words and his voice are still leading me and guiding me.