My father, Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna, would have celebrated his 67th birthday last Wednesday 4 had he not passed away on October 19, 2014.

It was not easy for me, my mother and my sister to lose someone who was there for us through thick and thin.

I shall cherish every moment I had with him. Watching Manchester United play nowadays isn’t easy, especially since we used to love watching them together.

To this day, I still remember calling him every afternoon to play ball with me for hours on end. His patience was something to be admired. Small things that would make a huge difference to our life.

Some people would complain that he smokes too much or that he would not want to visit doctors that often.

However, that’s what made him unique. He was not scared of death. He wanted to live life to the fullest without worrying any of his loved ones.

What I read about him in the newspapers was how honest, kind and down to earth he was.

What was missing in the papers was that all of this was effortless to him. It was his true and honest nature and this is what makes him my idol and we are all grateful to him for instilling courage, honesty, perseverance and respect into us and believed that we should never be scared to fail in what we do.

We are all glad that on the day he died he was happy. He danced with my mother to Phil Collins and joked around.

During lunch he followed his usual routine of picking on me that my mother always gives me the bigger portion.

It seemed to be his mission to tease me and I still wish he would be doing the same.

We all shall not forget what a hero and best friend he was to us.