Uma carta para o meu pai ausente

Querido pai,

I just wanted to say hey, and that I’m doing fine. I’m quite the young lady now. When you left us I was that teen no parent would want around their kids.

And just imagine, I only had my mom to take care of me. I went out, stuck out, drank, smoked and even tended to be sexually involved with boys I’d talk to.

I changed from the sweet little girl who was always wanting to help her dad skin a deer, or wash the car, even to wanting to help cut grass and run the tractor, to a mommy’s and daddy’s worst nightmare.

Fui à tua procura noutros homens, porque tinha saudades do homem que me abandonou há tantos anos.

I know now that every time you left or tried to come back but just vanished, it was not my fault. I know now that you had issues with yourself and that is the reason why you couldn’t be a proud parent and stay around with my mom.

Dad, I want you to know that the nightmare teenager I was is gone now. I’m 21 now and I have finally stopped searching for the man who would just fill in the space you left in my heart.

Instead I searched for someone to fill me and make me the happiest girl alive. I am now engaged and I can’t describe how well he treats me.

I never saw you do the things for my mom that he does for me. I have never seen this kind of love. You never showed my mom this kind of love so I didn’t know what to go out looking for until someone finally showed me.

Finalmente alguém me mostrou como é que uma família deve ser. Porque nunca me mostraram quando eu estava a crescer com a minha mãe.

Por isso, pai, acho que, a partir dessa criança problemática de 12, quase 13 anos, acabei por me sair muito bem. Acho que a minha mãe criou uma boa rapariga com um lado negro no seu passado.

I think my mom did well for providing for herself and me. I would not have gotten anything done without her standing by my side telling me it wasn’t my fault, that you’d miss me one day.

And that I was a good girl, I just needed to prove to you that you hadn’t hurt me as you thought you did.

Best wishes to you old man, because I could never wish any harm on the man who helped make me. I’m just thankful that you left when you did, as you made me the woman I am today!

A tua filha.

por Jodi Lynn Strickland