Since I was a little girl, you and I were inseparable. We would spend more time together than I would spend with mom, and I wouldn’t change that for the world. However, when you started working the afternoon shift, everything has changed since. I only see you in the morning when you drive me to school and send me off with a “Learn lots and have a great day, I’ll see you tomorrow,” and you will. For ten minutes.

You came home from work every day, exhausted from the 8-hour shift you worked with people who may get on your last nerve. I used to stay awake to see you because you would come in my room and check on me, but you stopped that when I turned 11. I don’t quite understand why, but our small conversations mean a lot to me.

Many girls I know have an inseparable relationship with their fathers, just like we did. To be honest, it does make me a little jealous. I miss spending time with you like we had used to. When I was younger, you would take me to a new park every day so we could play in new scenery and I could have something else to see other than the inside fences of our backyard. Playing catch with you and taking the dog for a walk were my favorite things to do.

Barely seeing you does put a lot of weight on my heart, more than I’d like to admit to you.

The stigma about me being a teenager is the fact I spend all my time in my bedroom, making it seem like I don’t want anything to do with you. You and Mom may not understand that, and quite frankly neither do I, but sometimes I am too exhausted to be around anybody. The way it seems is very negative as if I never want to do anything with you, and that is very far from the truth.

So, in my conclusion, to wrap this up, I miss you, and I wish we could spend more time together. Being alone in each other’s presence has now become more awkward than anything, like eating together at the kitchen table in silence as an example, and I wish to change that.

From a girl who misses her father dearly while he has never left her completely, I love you.