Dear Dad,
Preferably this would be in Spanish, especially because for the last 35 years you have tried so hard to learn English, just like I have done my best to master Spanish.
Anyways, I am not sure I have written you a letter lately, perhaps the last one was in 2007 when I was having my first child and I was full of emotions thinking of all the karma that was waiting for me as a parent. Boy has parenthood been like being raised again. Dad, I can’t imagine how you were/ are/ and continue to be such an unconditional father. All I can remember growing up, is that you spent every moment of your free time playing with me, even if it was Barbies, naming worms in our backyard, playing soccer, taking a bike ride to Target…. The list could go on. You didn’t care about anything else in the world except our time together. You would come home after work, exhausted, in a hurry, hoping you could catch me before 7 pm ( a very strict bedtime my body followed).
As I grew, I lived in a different country than you, and any chance you got, you came to visit me and once again spend 100% of all your time and attention to me. I would wake up early and stare at you hoping you would wake up early and just give me all your time, not understanding you must’ve been so tired from all the travelling. I remember you would ask me “ what do you want to do today?” and to be honest I felt that it didn’t matter as long as I was with you because I knew that no matter what we did or where we went, you would be there with me in every sense of the word. I thought you knew everything, so I would ask you everything and you would answer to the best of your ability and break it down in a way where I could understand, so patiently. When our time together was at an end, it felt like my heart would break every time, and I think you felt the same too; and I thank you for that because it taught me that I could be sad, miss you, and still be happy knowing the time we invested in each other would always be there.
As the years passed, I became more aware of life itself, of the “human condition”, of how we are far from perfect. I saw your imperfections, I experienced them. Despite all of that dad, the one thing you never kept from me was your love. You inadvertently taught me that it doesn’t matter what someone does, its how they make you feel. You have never made me feel alone in your presence or in your absence. Even if you have disagreed with my life choices, you never took love away. Until recently have I learned that that has been the biggest gift you could have ever given me, unconditional love. There are so many instances in my life where I have struggled much like you have, and instead of criticizing you I realize that at the same time you have given me that gift too; the gift to see your struggles and recognize it as my own, knowing that I have the responsibility to be better. Of course, I am writing this letter as your daughter, from that perspective. All that will ever matter to me is how amazing you have been, and how that has been your inheritance to me and my children, and I hope anyone else we touch.
I think its safe to say that no one is perfect; and one of the things I have noticed is that even seeing all our imperfections, the people you have touched are the ones that have never left your side. To me, you are the best father I could have ever asked for, nothing more nothing less.
Ana Laura