Meeting My Father for the First Time
The First Encounter
“I don’t want you to think this changes anything. You’re still my daddy no matter what,” Annabelle reassured her father.
“I know Anna, I know. I’m jut afraid to let you go,” Her father retorted. By now, he was in tears. Annabelle hated seeing her father so distraught; it killed her. She burst out into tears as well.
“Daddy, this is a new beginning. Who has been there through thick and thin for me? For the great times, and the awful times? Who do you think I want walking me down the isle? You, and only you.”
She remembered some of the last words she said to her father before she boarded the tour bus from Canandaigua Academy to Virginia Beach. As a vocalist, she had the option to take a school trip to Virginia to perform with prestigious classical composures. This is where Annabelle’s biological father lived as well, and they had arranged to meet. She had never known him, but was old enough to decide to have closure in that chapter of her life. She had been seventeen years without him, and had just turned eighteen. Her life was finally taking a turn for the better. She was sort of adopted by her best friends family and had father-like mentors her whole life. One in particular was Mr. Kevin. He had 3 boys of his own, but no daughters. And that’s exactly where Annabelle fit in. He was her chosen father, and there were no replacements for him. People just assumed they were related. But Mr. Kevin was afraid of losing his only daughter to her biological father.
Along the beach, she contemplated the days that were to follow. What would my real father be like? Was he wealthy, poor, middle class? Where would she fit into the equation, if at all? Where exactly does she even fit into life? A thousand questions raced through her head. She held her own in the wind. It was directing her in every which direction, not sure where it wanted her to go. The wind was her insecurity tracing every line in her life, showing her the numerous paths she could have taken.
Annabelle wandered to the edge of America, and stepped slowly into the tide. Allowing the waves to lap away her worries, for a moment, she imagined the life of a fish. Swimming, rolling floating through the sea life without a care in the world, a predator with teeth as sharp as razor blades pushed towards her. In this moment, she had to decide whether or not to live her life or destroy it. This little fish, full of life and fulfillment, swam with all her might to escape the sparkling jaws of this monstrosity. She elected to live her life another day.
Returned to her normal state of consciousness, Annabelle regained herself and lifted herself out of the ocean. She had decided on who she is and what she is to become. She returned to the busy boardwalk and tried to come back to the real world. But part of her childhood was just left in that vast sea.
A man rounded the corner. He was larger, graying, and very dark, compared to her light, New York skin. These two people could not be any more different if they had tried. Yet, they were cut from the very same cloth.
In his thick southern accent, he asked, “Annabelle?” The two embraced, and were silent for a very long time. There were no words for this moment, and there need not be. There was an understanding that Annabelle had grown into a new person, and that the final unwritten chapter of her childhood had been rendered. She left her youth on the sand in Virginia Beach, and returned home a changed woman.
“I know Anna, I know. I’m jut afraid to let you go,” Her father retorted. By now, he was in tears. Annabelle hated seeing her father so distraught; it killed her. She burst out into tears as well.
“Daddy, this is a new beginning. Who has been there through thick and thin for me? For the great times, and the awful times? Who do you think I want walking me down the isle? You, and only you.”
She remembered some of the last words she said to her father before she boarded the tour bus from Canandaigua Academy to Virginia Beach. As a vocalist, she had the option to take a school trip to Virginia to perform with prestigious classical composures. This is where Annabelle’s biological father lived as well, and they had arranged to meet. She had never known him, but was old enough to decide to have closure in that chapter of her life. She had been seventeen years without him, and had just turned eighteen. Her life was finally taking a turn for the better. She was sort of adopted by her best friends family and had father-like mentors her whole life. One in particular was Mr. Kevin. He had 3 boys of his own, but no daughters. And that’s exactly where Annabelle fit in. He was her chosen father, and there were no replacements for him. People just assumed they were related. But Mr. Kevin was afraid of losing his only daughter to her biological father.
Along the beach, she contemplated the days that were to follow. What would my real father be like? Was he wealthy, poor, middle class? Where would she fit into the equation, if at all? Where exactly does she even fit into life? A thousand questions raced through her head. She held her own in the wind. It was directing her in every which direction, not sure where it wanted her to go. The wind was her insecurity tracing every line in her life, showing her the numerous paths she could have taken.
Annabelle wandered to the edge of America, and stepped slowly into the tide. Allowing the waves to lap away her worries, for a moment, she imagined the life of a fish. Swimming, rolling floating through the sea life without a care in the world, a predator with teeth as sharp as razor blades pushed towards her. In this moment, she had to decide whether or not to live her life or destroy it. This little fish, full of life and fulfillment, swam with all her might to escape the sparkling jaws of this monstrosity. She elected to live her life another day.
Returned to her normal state of consciousness, Annabelle regained herself and lifted herself out of the ocean. She had decided on who she is and what she is to become. She returned to the busy boardwalk and tried to come back to the real world. But part of her childhood was just left in that vast sea.
A man rounded the corner. He was larger, graying, and very dark, compared to her light, New York skin. These two people could not be any more different if they had tried. Yet, they were cut from the very same cloth.
In his thick southern accent, he asked, “Annabelle?” The two embraced, and were silent for a very long time. There were no words for this moment, and there need not be. There was an understanding that Annabelle had grown into a new person, and that the final unwritten chapter of her childhood had been rendered. She left her youth on the sand in Virginia Beach, and returned home a changed woman.
♠ ♠ ♠
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!