Love LITerally: Always Be My Baby

It's cringy because I left the writing as originally submitted, save for correcting some grammatical errors. You're welcome;)

Dearest Michelle,

You are God's greatest gift to me. Now as I await your arrival, I can't help but feel exhilarated every time I think of you. I wonder how you will look like. Will you have your mother's eyes? My nose? Will we be alike in character? Generous and mild-tempered like your mother? Or stubborn yet patient like me? I wonder what would interest you when you are growing up... Sports? Music? Sigh, I could ask these questions all day long. I hope I will be good enough for you. I want to be the one holding your hand as you take your first steps. I want to comfort you and kiss you goodbye on your first day of school. I want to buy your first summer dress and watch you twirl around, admiring yourself in the mirror. I hope to at least walk you down the aisle when you get married. I want to do so many things for you, if only I had the time. If only I had spent less time at work and more time with your mother. Perhaps this would not have happened. Perhaps I would have more time with you. This will certainly be the biggest regret of my life. However, I am glad my diagnosis grounded me back in reality in time to spend some quality time with the two most beautiful ladies in the world. I promise you, I will fight. I will fight it for the both of you. I will fight it so that I can love you more every day and receive your love too. See you soon!

Lots of Love,

Daddy

Michelle folded the letter and gently placed it back in its envelope. Her father died when she was seven, but she knew in her heart that he never really left her. Every ten years, her mother would pull out her father's old shoe box to give her a pre-written letter from her father. He spent his last days writing these letters for her, not knowing that because of these letters, she drew strength from him and pulled through the darkest moments of her life. This was the first letter he wrote to her, and ever since she first read it, she knew he would always be with her.

Reflection (I had to do back then about the piece)

I have always believed that there is a special bond between a father and his daughter. This letter

was inspired by the idea that a father is his daughter’s first love. Ideally, a girl would want a life

partner who is just like her father, whom she has loved and cared for her entire life. The story also

shows how she was loved for the little girl she was, woman she had become and the daughter she

will always be.

Cover image from here.