To The Father Who Abandoned Me From The Daughter You Never Wanted | The Odyssey Online
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To The Father Who Abandoned Me From The Daughter You Never Wanted

You made a choice and I was all the better for it.

Emma Kirbis
Apr 17, 2018
Susquehanna University
591
To The Father Who Abandoned Me From The Daughter You Never Wanted
Emma Kirbis

Dear Eric,

22 years ago you found out you were having a daughter, May 1996. 9 months later you had a daughter, February 15, 1997. From that moment you made a choice.

A choice to be absent, a choice to not accept me, a choice to not care about my life. And from that moment, I have been all the better for it.

I have tried to write this letter many times over the past 21 years. I have written it at many different stages of my life. The angry stage, the denial stage, the curious stage.

Now I feel though is the best stage for me to write this. The peaceful stage. I am at peace with the fact that you chose not to be a part of my life.

To be quite frank, I would have rather it this way than for you to be present, then absent or for you to be a terrible father.

My life is good. I never once felt unloved, never once felt that I was missing something, never once felt out of place. I made something of myself without you.

I have traveled the world. I completed an entire years worth of college credits before graduating high school.

I performed on one of the most prestigious stages in the world at 17 years old with my choir. I am graduating college a semester early and I have an amazing future ahead of me.

For a long time I was angry at you, wondering why you left, what did I do wrong, how can I fix it. In recent years I have realized that it doesn't matter.

I have a wonderful life full of people who truly support and care about me. You have not hindered my life in any way. I don't even know if I know what I was missing because it never felt like anything was.

You went on with your life and I went on with mine. I am not longer going to let myself be angry with you. There is no going back in time and making a change.

You cannot take back the choice you made but if you decide one day you'd like to try and fix it, I will accept it but I will no longer be waiting for it.

Today, April 10, 2018 I am making a choice. A choice to be free of you.

A choice to be happy. A choice to no longer let your mistake affect my life. You abandoned me and for that, I am forever grateful.

I love my life. I love my friends and I love my family. So Eric, today, I forgive you.

I forgive you for the choice you made 22 years ago. I forgive you for not believing in yourself. I forgive you for not putting in the effort.

I forgive you for being a crappy human being. I forgive you.

Sincerly,

The Daughter You Never Wanted

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