James Van Der Beek’s daughter, Emilia, has shared an emotional tribute to mark her father’s first birthday since he passed away from colorectal cancer aged 48.
Aged just 9, Emilia began the candid video outside her home near some trees, where she revealed the lessons she’s learned while dealing with the grief of losing her father.
“Hi, my name is Emilia Van Der Beek,” she said. “As you all probably know, my dad has passed away. But I’m just going to tell you little tips – anything that helps you getting through anybody you love passing.”
“So today is my dad’s birthday, and the number one thing for somebody’s passing is to talk to them and let your emotions out. If you miss them, you can cry. You can talk to them. I talk to my dad every day, and I start with a sentence, and I say, ‘Hi Dad, I miss you. I love you so much and I’ll never stop loving you.’
“And I just tell them about my day, how I’m feeling, and I tell my family how I’m feeling. And I know he can hear me, but I can’t hear him. My mom can. You just you have to feel them, because they’re in your heart. They’re watching, they’re part of your body and they’re in a good place, he’s not in pain anymore. He’s in heaven above the clouds with God, and just cry. Cry, cry, cry. You can be happy they’re in a good place, you can be sad because you miss them. You can be angry, but don’t blame yourself.
© Instagram“And if somebody also loves their dog, like somebody they love and they try to tell you, ‘I know how you feel, I feel worse.’ They don’t know. Everybody has different emotions in their body, and they express it in different ways. And don’t just don’t let anybody tell you that be like, ‘No, you don’t know how I feel.’
“And this is hard. It’s gonna be hard, and even if you hear that they’re passing, it’s okay. If they do, it’s a miracle. Still, everything is meant to happen for a reason. Something my dad told me was, if this isn’t worked out the way he wanted it to, and the way we wanted it to, for him living, I still have to believe in miracles.
“Miracles can still happen, just later on in life, and they’ll keep coming. But when you want them to come, they might not. But if they do pass, if they do go, just remember, they have some work to do on the other side.
“And also, something that I have done with my dad passing, is I stole his hat. Steal anything of theirs, and just keep it. My dad’s hat smells of him and I love it so much.
“I praise my dad. I know that he was a good man. A lot of people loved him and people prayed for him, and he was loved by many, many parts and many, many people. Also if you donated to the Kimberley Van Der Beek fundraiser, thank you so much. I checked it, holy moly. Thank you so much. I am blown away.”
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