My four-year-old daughter hasn’t seen her father since she was four years old. He is now 11 years old.
Her father called me when she was two years old and asked if she would give up her parental rights in order to stop paying alimony, and I agreed.
I wanted to spare her the heartache of having an irresponsible father, and the financial price was well worth it because I was confident she would never let her down again.
I never told her the truth about her father or where she went…
I tried to answer her queries about her age as best I could.
When the daughter was four years old, her father contacted her and said he had been diagnosed with cancer and wanted to visit her. We waited a day before meeting at a park.
Despite his request for a two-hour visit, he only came for 20 minutes, and I never heard from him again…
However, we met someone who knew him one summer, and he remarked on how much the girl resembled his other children.
That person started telling us about her father’s new family.
My stomach clenched as I imagined how difficult it must be for her to hear all of this.
I made every effort to finish the conversation as quickly as possible.
We were about to get in the car to go when we noticed her smiling.
Said:
– Mom… he finally learned out how to be a father.
It’s such a lovely thing! I’m happy for those children!
My 11-year-old daughter taught me everything I needed to know about forgiveness on that day!”