DEAR DADDY:

As the month of June passed, I remember you because June was your month. In the same month of June, it’s your birthday and father’s day. I did call you on father’s day and I was so excited to hear your voice that I did not say Happy Birthday. But I did remember your birthday but unfortunately I had no airtime on my phone. So I decided to tell you how much I love you all in one phone call. By the way, AIRTIME has happened to mean MINUTES in South Africa.

Oh daddy! Could you believe that it has been a year since I left the states? Being in South Africa, I have learned so much. Even that I am going through ups and downs here, I am so happy to be here. The one thing that drove me to stick it out was your words a year ago.

We were in Greenwood, South Carolina at the lake. You said to both my brother and I: “One day that we should surpass you in achievements in life because that was how the world will grow.” I believed that I have done just that. With your spirit of dreaming in me, I went to see for myself what was out there.

I could not express in words what I have seen and felt here. As my year in South Africa goes by, I do wonder if it has happened to be my time to go or if I am just beginning the journey. What ever I decide, I know you will be behind me.

I know this because you’re the best dad in the world because you dealt with me all these years. It was your life experiences that raised me into the best woman that I could be. Now I completely have an understanding of the way you raised me. I believe that I could accomplish anything.

You have let me go out into world, I hope you know that I am searching for something that I could not even tell you what myself. But thank you for just being there for me.

I hope you know that I am not away from family but I have placed myself in the biggest challenge of my life to find my inner self on my own. With this said, I do miss you dearly. All your jokes, quotes, laugh, and even you cutting the grass with that big tractor…..

Daddy! I felt it in my heart that after a year things are coming together here in South Africa. And even if I am stepping into womanhood, I am still your little girl and no one could take that away.