BINDI IRWIN is celebrating her father’s legacy on what should have been his 60th birthday. The 23-year-old shared a throwback photo of herself with him along with a heartfelt message on her social media.
“Happy Birthday to the greatest dad and Wildlife Warrior,” her caption read. “Today I’ll watch The Crocodile Hunter with Grace Warrior and share stories about her incredible Grandpa Crocodile. I love you with all my heart. Your legacy lives on.”
This is not the first time she has paid tribute to her father this year. Just last month, she got a tattoo on her forearm that reads “Graceful Warrior”. The tattoo was dedicated to him and her daughter, Grace.
“The words I spoke to our daughter as I held her for the first time in my arms were, ‘My graceful warrior’. That’s how her name was born,” she explained in her Instagram post.
“This is my dad’s handwriting to keep him with me, always. Our dear alligator, Daisy, is next to these words to represent our conservation work as Wildlife Warriors. And my beautiful wedding ring in bloom.”
She added: “Validation every day of the three most important things in my life: family, purpose and unconditional love.”
Though Bindi has moved on from her father’s passing, she worries about how his absence will affect her daughter growing up.
“It’s hard knowing that she’ll never get to actually meet him and it’s devastating because I’ll never get to watch their connection. But, I can not wait to be able to tell beautiful Grace all of these stories about dad, to be able to share with her what an amazing father he was.”
And despite them not knowing each other, Bindi knows that Steve would have loved her with all his heart.
“It’s hard that he’s not here because out of everyone in the world, gosh, he would have loved her the most. He would have loved her so much. But I think in a way he is still with us.”
