Dear Father

CHAPTER ONE: DADDY’S GIRL When I was a young I was always fond of my father, loved him so much no one would tell me anything bad about him because I wouldn’t listen, I wouldn’t hear my father was the most perfect man in the world well in my eyes that is and it’s understandable because as a child one sees things from a child’s perspective. Growing up I lived with my grandmother( my dad’s mom) and it was myself two of my cousins and my grandparents, my dad would barely be around but when he came back to visit I would be the happiest I never really asked where he would be all the other time I just assumed he was working because he would always come back bearing gifts. I remember this one time, a very fond memory it was during one of the times he was visiting by my grandmother he called my name and I obviously ran to him and he took my hand looked at my nails and asked me to get a nail-clipper because he didn’t like how my nails were(the length that is) and he took the time to cut them. Till this day that’s one of my favourite memories with my father and I’m almost 22 years of age and that happened when I was about 6 years or so. That says a lot doesn’t it? Hold on… I lived with my grandmother until my mom decided to come and take me to go live with her mom, I wasn’t happy about that because I knew my father wouldn’t be able to come visit and chances of me seeing him as often as I would like would basically decrease. Nonetheless I was right, there’s a year I didn’t see my father because him and my mother were not getting along, they were already apart just co-parenting, toxic co-parenting if I may say it was their egos first before me, they never asked what I wanted, it was more about who won in terms keeping me. My mom eventually got to keep me she waited for my dad to leave from one of his visits and came to take me to go live with her. My father and I were still good, I loved him when I was by my mother, I would always ask to call him, and he always picked up. If my mother didn’t have airtime, I would run to a payphone and call him. Those were the good old times yet everything still feels like it was yesterday, everything changed when my dad’s sister my aunt passed, I hadn’t seen my father in a year and now I knew I’d have to go to the funeral and I would get a chance to see my father finally. My aunt passing was very sad for me I was 10 years old but I understood that death meant that she wasn’t coming back and I remember crying when I heard about the news over the phone and my mother said not to cry because that would make my cousins even more sad so I stopped crying, she should’ve let me cry she was my aunt. I remember my dad asking my mother if I was okay after hearing the news and she said I was fine, I wasn’t. The time for me to attend the funeral came, my mom packed a few clothes for that weekend I was excited that I would at least get to see my father and the day came when he arrived however this time around he didn’t come alone , he brought guests , unexpected guests for me that was. So on that day I found out I had a younger brother and that younger brother and not only that the younger brother came with a mother that wasn’t mine, mind blown I was at 10 years old, my dad is now our dad. I was then introduced to my step mom that particular night I was so confused and no one thought to explain I just had to wrap my head around it all and keep being the kid that I was, but that was heavy thing for me, from that point onwards things started to fall apart