Netizens were touched by a TikTok post captioned, “bestie so hard that her dad got me a personalized sash of my dad, who passed away and couldn’t be here with me on my special day.” It captured the essence of a small act of kindness that turned a graduation ceremony into an emotionally charged viral moment between two friends.
Marlice Valentin and Tanaya Edwards agreed to be roommates after meeting through a mutual acquaintance during their undergraduate years. Their bond became stronger over time.
“Marlice was always the one who stayed,” Tanaya told People. “So I stayed close to her too.”
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A silent understanding that both had experienced the pain of losing a parent molded the two’s friendship. It was not until much later in their friendship that Marlice found out about Tanaya’s loss.
“She has her dad, and I have my mom,” Marlice explained. “It’s like we’re different, but still going through the same kind of loss.”
But this graduation was Marlice’s first significant life event without her parents being there. “It made me really emotional. Not everyone knows,” she noted. “My mom couldn’t come for personal reasons, and I didn’t have my dad there.”
Tanaya’s father, William Edwards, who had heard Marlice’s story several times, decided to show up for his daughter’s friend.
He told People, “And I know certain things about her friends. So after I made a sash for my daughter, I thought—I should make one for her friend, too.”
He added, “Just for her to have that around her and her father not here … it was for encouragement.”
“I wanted to encourage my daughter, and to encourage Marlice was a plus.”
William came up with the idea after being inspired by internet ads. So he picked a lovely photo of his daughter and her mother, as well as one of Marlice and her father, and wrote a few words.
On the day of graduation, Marlice was surprised to see the sash bearing a treasured picture of her and her father that captured one of their last moments together.
When she wore the sash, Marlice was reminded of her achievements and her father. “It hit home. I feel like I miss him more than I did when I was younger,” she said. “Now I’m doing these big things — graduating, becoming an adult — and he’s not here.”
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Tanaya, who was there when it happened, recalled, “I broke down a little bit. I knew how much it meant to her to have that, especially with her mom not being there.”
Thinking about her father’s generosity makes Tanaya happy. “I feel like the luckiest girl ever to have someone like him in my life,” she stated. “He did it out of love — not for the views, just because he cared.”
The touching presentation was captured on video. However, the viral success amazed both girls.
“I didn’t expect it to blow up,” Marlice remarked. “At first, we had 700 likes. I went to sleep and woke up at 70,000. Now we’re over 1 million.”
According to Marlice, sharing the video helped her understand she wasn’t alone. “I’m not the only one who lost someone,” she said. “It made me feel understood.”
She also found family in the Edwards household. “Tanaya’s dad is one of the greatest dads I’ve ever met,” Marlice shared. “Just the fact that he saw me as a girl who didn’t have her dad, and thought about what I was probably going through — it made me feel so loved.”
Now that they are mature young women, Tanaya is thinking about a career in social work or probation, while Marlice is working toward her master’s degree in mental health counseling. But the connection they have has not changed.
“From the first time I invited her to my home — not just our school apartment, but my real home — she was family,” Marlice said. “She’s in the house already. Everybody knows her. We’re locked in.”
Meanwhile, William wishes for them to carry their relationship into maturity. “You girls went through a lot,” he told them. “But you made it through. You already know what it is to struggle, and now, you know how to overcome it.”
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