Dad, this one is for you.

It's no secret that our relationship is anything but perfect. We argue and we disagree. I've never really been 'Daddy's Little Girl' and sometimes I even envied the girls who were.

You love me anyway.

You passed down your stubbornness, your short temper, and your anxiousness, but you also passed down your generosity, your ambition, and your heart. The latter overshadows the former every single time.

You used to wear a necklace, dad. It was a golden cross and a pendant on the same chain. Every time you moved, the cross and the pendant hit each other and it sounded like a soft bell.

To you, it was just a necklace. To me, it was the safest sound I could hear. Living 6,990 miles away from you made the ringing of the necklace a sound I didn't get to hear too often.

I know you visited as much as you could, Dad. One night, you flew in but you didn't tell anyone except Mom. It was late at night when you got home and somehow mom snuck you into her room. I think she thought I was asleep because it was late. Your room was right next to mine and I heard the ringing.

Instinctively, I jumped out of bed and knocked on the door till mom finally opened it. I said, "I heard Dad's necklace. Is he here?". She said you weren't, but mom was never good at lying. I didn't believe her but I went back to bed.

Less than 2 minutes later, you came in and surprised me.

You see, dad, for the longest time, that necklace was the one thing I always knew about you. Going weeks or months without seeing you meant I slowly forgot your voice or didn't keep up with your daily schedule.

But I always knew I'd hear the ring when you were around.

Growing up, that necklace became a part of you in my eyes.

The older I got the less I heard the ringing.

One day, you stopped wearing it.

I finally realized that you were around whether the I heard the necklace or not. It wasn't the ringing of the necklace that made me feel safe, but it was the man who was wearing it.

I love you, always.