09/14/2025
Today would have been my Dad's 77th birthday. My Dad was a Navy man, a Southside of Chicago with Memphis, TN and Coffeeville, MS manners man, an Omega Psi Phi man, a family man. He was a good man.
When I think of my Dad, I think of black coffee, hours upon hours of college football, deep philosophical conversations, values and morals that were deeply ingrained and held dear, an ego and sense of self balanced enough to openly have those morals argued against, an ear that was always ready to listen, a heart always open, a friend, at his core, not just to those who he loved, but to society as a whole.
There are so few things in life that we can hold as absolute truths.
But this I know is true and is a statement that grounds me deeply. I am Roy Lee's daughter. Not just biologically speaking. But at my core. Who he was is so firmly planted in who I am as a person. My drive to better the world, to do a kind deed, to love fiercely and deeply, and to care, passionately, about all people (except as****es, right Dad?), comes from the example he set.
Children don't learn who they are and how they feel about the world and about themselves strictly through what is told. It is when what is told matches what is modeled that builds the foundation of caring, curious, grounded human beings.
I am eternally grateful that I was lucky enough to learn so many lessons from my Dad and I adore the fact that I get to pass these lessons down to my children, to my patients, to the world.
So Happy Birthday to Roy Thomas Lee and thank you to his Mama Mollie Lee (Webb) for bracing herself against a car in rural TN to give birth to my Dad because his ass was too impatient to allow her to get into the hospital first. 🤣
