New parents dream of all the things their children will one day get to experience like meeting friends, falling in love, and one day even having kids of their own, but, for many, those dreams get ripped away if their child is born with a disability.
When one father found out his daughter had been born with Down syndrome, he was crushed that there would be things she may never get to experience. “When you were born and for years afterward, I didn’t worry for what you’d achieve academically. Your mum and I would make that happen. We’d wield the law like a cudgel if we had to. We could make teachers teach you, and we knew you’d earn the respect of your peers. What we couldn’t do was make other kids like you. Accept you, befriend you, stand with you in the vital social arena,” dad Paul Daugherty wrote in a letter to his daughter Jillian.
“We thought, “What’s a kid’s life if it isn’t filled with sleepovers and birthday parties and dates to the prom?” I worried about you then. I cried deep inside on the night when you were 12 and you came downstairs to declare “I don’t have any friends.”
Despite dad’s worries and the limitations the world put on Jillian, she managed to make friends, play sports, go to college, and even fall in love. A decade ago, Jillian’s now husband, Ryan, walked up to the family’s front door asking for Paul’s permission to take Jillian to the homecoming dance. In that moment, every worry Paul had completely vanished.
Now on his daughter’s wedding day, Paul shared his touching letter as proof that a disability doesn’t mean having an incomplete life. “Now … look at you. You’re the nicest person I know. Someone who is able to live a life of empathy and sympathy and without agendas or guile, is someone we all want to know. It worked out for you, because of the person you are,” Paul wrote.
Read the rest of Paul’s touching letter here.
Can you believe this dad’s touching letter to his daughter on her wedding day?
Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image credit: Facebook/Paul Daugherty]
Dad Writes An Emotional Letter To His Daughter With Down Syndrome On Her Wedding Day is an article from: LifeDaily