A Gratitude Letter For My Dad

A gratitude letter for my dad…

Dad,

Thank you for being the most incredible man I have ever met. Thank you for all the sacrifices you made to take care of me and my siters. Above all, thanks for raising the five of us to be independent and strong women. Thank you for your strength, your discipline, and your thirst for learning and teaching. Thank you for teaching me to speak English. You were a tough teacher but had it not been for you, I would not be writing this letter in a language that is not my mother tongue. Thank you for being an example of a person who persevered even though you grew up very poor and had the bare minimum. Even going through all this, you still maintained that laughter I love so much. Do not get me wrong, you are a serious man but when you laugh, you laugh out loud, and I love it!

Thank you for teaching me and my sisters how to take care of ourselves and how to never, ever expect anyone to take care of us. With me being the oldest, I not only learned to take care of myself but also took care of my four sisters. I am not going to lie, it was hard but I am grateful I had that opportunity. Thank you for waking up early every day to take me to ballet classes and for teaching me French while we were on the bus. Thank you for picking me up late at night at the German school. Thank you for all the education I had. I would not be who I am today had it not been for your persistence and perseverence in making me become a better person. Thank you for working so hard to make sure my sisters and I did not have to go through what you went through.

Thank you for teaching me the value of a good education. Thank you for sharing your stories of poverty and of making your way up through education and hard work. There is so much gratitude in my heart for all that you are and all that you represent. I am even grateful for our differences. Because of you I know how to argue and how to always look at both sides of a situation. I am grateful I got to learn how to overcome obstacles from you. You taught me how to always get up, dust myself off and move on. I am doing this even to this day.

I could go on and on as to how grateful I am. The gist of it all is, thank you for being you and for being the best dad I could have ever asked for. Even with all the imperfections, ups and downs in our relationship, I would be omiss if I did not thank you for helping me be who I am. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

With all my love and gratitude,

Simone