The Journey Back to Daddy’s Girl

/ Jodi
This week leading up to Christmas, I am sharing a few of my favorite posts from the past.  This post is a special one.  It celebrates a very special event in my life.   A Journey back to Daddy’s Girl…

The Journey Back to Daddy’s Girl – Happy 4th Anniversary Dad!

 

Today is a very special Anniversary…  A day that brings back floods of memories…  floods of emotions….  reflections on time missed…  but celebration of time and love shared…  from here on…

You see – Today is a Father-Daughter Anniversary.  Today is the 4 year anniversary of my reunion with my Dad (my “birth father”).

And I  thought it deserved a special anniversary card to send to Dad to help us cherish the day.

word traveler train cherish dad anniversary 4 card

So you might think that sounds a bit odd…. Father and Daughter Anniversary???

Well – I’m going to share a kinda big chunk and pretty personal part of my heart today.  So – if you’re not into that or not interested, you may just want to skip this blog.

So here goes…

On July 17, 2010, I was reunited with my Dad (my “birth father” Dad so as not to be confused with another great man in my life that I also call Dad – I know – a bit confusing – and on top of that both of their names are John!).

It was a day neither of us will ever forget.

The reason(s) for our separation for 39 years is really not the point or purpose of this story, nor do I feel appropriate to share, but the joy in our reunion is the focus here….  And oh what JOY we have shared.

For our second Christmas together again in 2012, I presented Dad with a book I wrote for him.

dadbook

I called it, “The Journey Back to Daddy’s Girl.”  The book is a celebration of our initial exchange of emails leading up to our reunion that covers the course of only a few short weeks, but close to 70 pages of exchanges.  It chronicles how we discovered each other again – an adult daughter close to 50 years old – and an even more adult father – close to 70 years old who last saw each other when the little girl was 9 years old and the Daddy was just barely past 30.

We (well mostly I) asked each other questions (sometimes difficult ones) and our exchanges evolved from closings with “John (BF)” to “Love you, Dad”s.

Let me share the “Introduction” with you here.

———-

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl.  Jodi had a Mom and a Dad and a little brother.

Life was good, until one day when Daddy left.  Then Jodi just got to visit with Daddy on the weekends, until a day came when Mom introduced Jodi and her brother to a new Dad, and told her she would not be seeing her other Daddy any more.

Jodi lived a good life.  Her new Dad and Mom took good care of her and her brother and her new baby sister, but Jodi always felt something was missing.

She thought of her first Dad throughout her life.

She dreamed of bumping into him on the street… their eyes would lock, and they would immediately recognize each other.  Dad would tell her he loved her and missed her and was so proud of the woman she had become…..

Sometimes dreams do come true…”

———-

Marty (for those new here – the hubster), was instrumental in helping me find my Dad.

It is so much more incredibly easier than imaginable with the internet and people search software these days.

Marty has known for years – probably before I even realized – that there was a part of me missing – that there were unanswered questions – that there was a dad out there that I needed – and who needed me.  He has asked me over the years about it – ever since we started dating when I was a mere 16 year old high school girl and he was a “mature” 20-year old “man.”  (That story is a whole blog post for another day).  When Marty realized my yearning had grown so strong, and my need was so great, he was the one that took the step to reach out for me, and the resulting reply is etched in my mind and on my heart forever:

“Hi Jodi – Yes. I am your “Birth Father.”  It was an answer to prayer hearing from you.  I hope that you and John are both fine.  To this day, I regret the worst decision I have ever made.  I was talked into doing something, but I had my own mind.  At the time, I thought I was doing the best thing for your two.  Can you ever forgive me?”

And so began my Journey back to Daddy’s Girl.

And now we celebrate four wonderful years of being a reunited father and daughter, which began on July 17, 2010 when my Dad showed up to my house with a huge bouquet of flowers, a face that looked exactly like mine (and resembles Tom Jones I think only to me 🙂 ), immediately telling me he loved me, and he missed me, that I was beautiful (only to him I’m sure 🙂 ),and he was so proud of me.  You see – he wanted to fulfill my dream…  He wanted our reunion to be the wonderful event I had dreamed about over the years…

We both cried – happy and sad tears.  And we have talked almost every day since then.  We’ve spent  birthdays and holidays and Father’s days together.  He was with me at our son Jake’s wedding.  He loves my family as his own.  His family has embraced me as their own.  They have always known about me, and they welcomed me with open arms.

I will never forget the first time I met my Dad’s wife, Carole (aka Mom 2).  The first thing she said to me was, “Your Dad always promised me a daughter, and now I have one.  We’ve been praying for you for a long time.”

The epilogue of my book closes with:

———-

And so it began …….

With a simple email …

A journey back to Daddy’s girl.

And now, two and a half years later …

… we write each other almost every day

… and talk every weekday morning at 7:05

We’ve spent Father’s days together and holidays and birthdays and are part of each other’s lives again.

Our families love each other and we love each other.

‘What a Difference You’ve Made in My Life’

Dreams do come true!

this is not THE END.”

———-

071710

Father & Daughter Reunion Day – July 17, 2010

I hope this message will encourage those adult children who were separated from birth parents – at whatever age (birth, childhood, teenager, young adult) – for whatever reason – to reach out and try if it is something that has yanked on and ached in your heart for years.

Maybe your ending will not turn out as good as mine did  (and of course there is much more to our story than I’ve shared here so far) , but can anything hurt more than the emptiness and not-knowing that you feel every day?  Could the potential rejection be any worse than what you have imagined or decided or dealt with for years in your heart?

Love is worth the risk.  It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.  Closure or resolution or answers to decades of unanswered questions can let you sleep at night…  can bring you peace… can make you right with yourself!  I’m certainly not an educated or trained professional in this area, but I can only speak of my own personal experience.

I wish you joy.  I wish you peace.  I wish you resolution.  I wish you wholeness of heart – no matter the ending.  YOU are worth it.  YOU are here for a reason.  YOU are loved.

Happy 4 year “Anniversary” Dad!  I love you, and I cherish you!   (And I’ve been listening to “our song” again this week.  I’m betting you will too.)  ❤  “What a Difference You’ve Made in My Life!”

Cheers and Hugs,

Jodi

48 thoughts on “The Journey Back to Daddy’s Girl”

  2. Wow Jodi, What a beautiful post and story. I am so happy that this search for your birth father and reuniting with him 4 years ago turned out so perfectly and helped to make both of your lives complete. I agree, for others out there yearning to reunite with birth Mom’s and Dad’s, it is worth the risk to attempt to do this. You will really never know if your dream can come true until you try like Jodi did !

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    • Thank you so much Gary! I’m so happy for you having time with your Mom these past few weeks. It has really warmed my heart watching your love and adoration for her. ❤

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    • I tear up reading it myself. The whole first year I cried every time I told the story. Now it has been 7 years, and it almost feels as if we’ve never been apart. I feel so so very fortunate. ❤

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  8. Jodi,

    Thank you for this. I too had a birth father until I was three years old. He and my mom divorced, and later on she married the man who would become a father to me like no other. He and my mother were married for 60 years; Mom died on December 16, 2015 just days before their December 27 anniversary.

    Before she died, she told me all about my birth father and why I never heard from him or knew him. It seems that his parents tried to have sole custody of me and of course Mom and then later, Dad—kept this from happening.

    So it all was complicated, but I have to say that my dad was a wonderful father to me. He died on April 22 of this year and I miss him. He truly was a father who fathered.

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    • Our lives are complicated – eh? But so so so happy you were blessed with the beautiful father who loved you as if he was your birth father. He WAS your father!!! I know you just lost him – and this will be your first Christmas without him. I know how much you loved him and he loved you and how you took care of him in the end. I know your heart is likely a bit heavy this year with that loss. So I send love – and hoping this story filled your heart with a little love and gratitude for the beautiful gift of a father you were given. MERRY Christmas dear Jane!

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  9. Jodi this is beyond beautiful …. of course being the softie I am I have tears coursing down my cheeks as I write these meager words of commentary. I am so so glad your wonderful husband urged you to find your Daddy, I am so, so glad that he was waiting (with that wonderful woman he married who had been promised a daughter and got one). The happy ending is not an ending but an endless beginning. You have made my day … my week in fact, possibly my EVER with this beautiful true story. My wish is for the longest life for you and your Daddy so that you are celebrating not 4 (or 7 as it must now be)) years but decades and decades and that the loss of the years in between just evaporates and ceases to matter any more. Much love x

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    • And now I have tears rolling down my cheeks. Fiona – you are one of the most beautiful souls I have met through blogging! I cannot tell you how many times you have touched my heart with your comments. You are so very special. I cannot wait for you to get that special permission you are awaiting – and we can meet up and I want to give you such a tight hug for so many times you have made my day and encouraged me. Merry Christmas dear friend! Merry Life! Merry Future! Hugs!!!!

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      • Thank you. It cuts exactly and precisely both ways. You are honestly the gift that Terry left to me. If I am a fraction of that gift in return then I am happy. Hugs and hugs and hugs to you. My fridge is groaning and my heart is overflowing. After all – I am breathing, I am alive and I am blessed with you and others who make life SO good. What on earth more can I wish for …. 💝

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  11. Thank you for sharing your story. God knows the desires of our heart. What a blessing He reunited you and your dad. I love visiting your blog. Your willingness to share brings hope and healing. Merry Christmas!

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    • Thank you Kim. You’ve brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for your sweet note. It is nice to know my little place here is a place you like to visit. It is my little “ministry” so to speak. Merry Christmas! Wishing you happy stories!

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  13. What a wonderful story Jodi. Whatever issues impact parent/child relationships, a “coming together” again and developing the relationship from that point is always so heartwarming. Thank you so much for sharing… and what perfect timing! A real “feel good” Christmas story. 🙂

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