I love my dad. He is the most selfless man I have ever met.

I think the fact that his only son almost died at 25 years old changed him. He became overly protective. His desire to want to shield everyone was sweet and, sometimes, bordered craziness.

I lived in my parents’ basement when I was discharged from the hospital after I sustained a traumatic brain injury. I could not access my bedroom on the second floor because I was in a wheelchair and not permitted to use the steps. And while living at home is not ideal for a dude in his mid-twenties, my friends’ nightly visits made it much more tolerable.

One night, an attractive woman I was very into was visiting me. We were chatting when my dad came home from work and entered the house through my bedroom, errrrrrrrrrrr, the basement door. Dad, the gal, and I talked before he excused himself to go upstairs. But before doing so, he uttered a classic line that my sister and I talk about even today–nearly 20 years later.

Dad said, “I’ll see you later, Bianca*. When you leave, watch the wind. It’s blowing hard out there.”

Please don’t think we lived on a sailboat cruising the Intercoastal Waterway or in a coastal Florida town as a Category Five Hurricane spun in our direction. No, we were in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Bianca glanced at me with a quizzical look on her face. I hung my head in sheer disbelief at what I had just heard.

Whenever the winds are forecast to gust, I text my sister and mom, warning them. “Watch the wind!”

*Name changed to protect her identity.