While it’s been “extremely, extremely” difficult to grow up without her father, and “it gets harder and harder every year,” the Nebraska teen toldCNNthe senior photos are a way to keep his memory close.
Photographer Susanne Beckmann, who has taken photos of Yllescas since she was 9 years old, posted the photos to Facebook Sunday night and said she never expected such a grand response for her work.
“This was just supposed to be something special I was doing for one of my customers,” Beckmann toldCNN. “I’ve never seen a reaction like this to my photos,” adding that other families are asking her for similar photos of their loved ones.
“I can’t even put into words how it makes me feel, knowing he’s still with me,” Yllescas said of the photos.
Yllescas’ father was transported to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland following his accident, however, a month later he fell to his injuries.
Though she was only 7 years old when her father was deployed, the high school senior said the two always shared a special bond explaining that her father “was a jokester” and that she would wrestle with him often when she was young.
“He was a good dad and always let me win,” she recalled.
Yllescas and her father both shared a love of boating and popsicles, so much so that they began to build a boat out of popsicle sticks. However, the boat was not finished before Robert was called to Afghanistan, and it still remains unfinished today.
“I wouldn’t feel right finishing it without him,” she toldCNN.
Along with her senior photos, Yllescas and her mother will be able to once again connect with Robert through an upcoming film based onCNNanchor Jake Tapper’s book,The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, which features the army ranger’s story.
Yllescas and her mother will attend the private screening of the movie in Washington this October before the film hits theaters.
source: people.com
