After Father’s Death, Daughter Finds Diary He Hid from Her for over 33 Years — Story of the Day
A young woman discovers her father’s diary written 33 years before and the story she reads inspires her to make a difference in one suffering young boy’s life.
Growing up without a mother had left a huge hole in Melissa Justin’s life even though she was raised by an adoring, dedicated father. When Melissa grew up, she found herself determined to help children and nurture them.
Naturally, she became a primary school teacher. Her proud father applauded her decision and encouraged her. Then, when Melissa was thirty-five, her father passed away, and his death cast a light on her own past that would transform how she connected to children.
Melissa was stunned when she read her father’s diary. | Source: Shutterstock.com
Melissa’s father’s death from a massive heart attack at the age of seventy left her alone in the world after her mother had died when she was just three. Melissa had been so young that she couldn’t remember her mother, Leanne.
Then, when she was a teen, her grandparents had passed away, and since both her mother and father had been only children, she had no uncles, no aunts, no happy tribe of cousins.
All her memories of her mother were second-hand. They came from photographs and stories told by her father’s and mother’s friends. Leanne had been the love of Melissa’s father’s life and he had never looked at another woman.
Melissa was raised by her father after her mother died. | Source: Unsplash
Melissa and her father had been extremely close, and now she would have to carry on without him. Two days after the funeral, she had to go to her father’s house and pack up his belongings. What she found there would change her life.
In the drawer of her father’s bedside table, she found an old journal. She opened it and saw that it started just weeks before her mother’s death. She flipped through her father’s memories of her as a two-year-old and his plans to take Leanne on a romantic getaway.
“Melissa will be staying with mom. I want this time with Leanne, just the two of us, like it was before…” Melissa looked up from the diary. Her father had wanted to get away from her? Then she continued reading.
