Not long ago, I was sitting here, thinking of my late father. I had the thought that I didn't have anything tangible from him/ of his still in my possession.
I had been rereading through Cat Crowley's novel, Words in Deep Blue-- the section where someone living received a letter from someone who had passed. One of the main characters, the deceased's sister, had a box of items belonging to her brother and said she knew she'd keep the box forever. That's when I had the thought that I didn't think I had anything of my dad's anymore.
I closed the book.
After some time I did that thing of closing my eyes and asking for a message-- asking to be led to a message in the book for me. I opened the book to this page, and seeing the message, I immediately remembered that I had a note that I kept in my photo album-- a note from my freshman year in college, written by my dad.
That year had been my first time away from home for an extended period of time. And my first night on campus, while speaking to him on the phone had been the first time I had ever said the words, "I love you" to another person. I said it in English as those words don't really exist as such in my native language (the closet equivalent I can think of loosely translates to, "Thoughts of you makes me so, so happy). And at some point in that year, he surprised me by sending my first ever gift basket and that basket included a hand written note.
The passage in the book triggered that memory and fishing out the note from where I'd packed it away, I cried and laughed at the similarities between the two.
So, I got my message, a sign, an answer, my heart filled with love and so much more. Well played, daddy. I love you :) ♥️
