It’s never easy to lose a parent. But losing them before their time means you face a lot of milestones with a little pang of loneliness.
Yes, you can be grateful to be surrounded by amazing friends and family, but sometimes the person you want the most can’t be there.
So when Reddit user ChrisBenRoy got a 30th birthday card from his dad, it really meant the world to him.
The card, signed ‘Love ya, Dad’, came to Chris 16 years after his dad’s funeral.
Posting the snap, Chris wrote:
“Yesterday was my 30th birthday and my dad got me a card. He passed away in 1999.”
Explaining the significance of the card, Chris explained:
‘My father passed away from Liver/Lung cancer in 1999 after battling it for a year and a half. After so much chemo and medication, he just couldn’t take that quality of life anymore and realized it was his time to go. I assume at that point he bought cards for my brother and I’s milestone birthdays. It caught me totally off guard and made me so very happy. It felt like he was still there, holding something I’d never seen before that he touched, and signed himself, it was if he had just done it yesterday.
‘[It’s] been so long that I’ve been just kind of used to the idea that he’s been gone. I’ve lived longer w/out him than I did with him. So to have these little moments where he kind of pops back into my life again brings everything back in a rush and it’s incredible. I cried, but I did because I was so incredibly happy.’
Chris’ dad wrote the card, asking his mother to hold onto it and save it for him.
We think that’s probably the best 30th birthday present he’ll get.
