In Australia, it is November 17, and my youngest child turns 21 today.
It has been 4 years to the day since we last spoke on the phone.
It has been 4 years and a day since her mother said she would never allow her to visit me in the USA.
It is 7 years since her mother violated court orders and moved her 3 states away. It is 8 years since I last flew back to Australia, and her mother withheld her from me.
It is almost 12 years since I left Australia.
Her 21st birthday marks the end. It is over.
It's too late for my girls, lessons learned:
- Manage your child child support. Make it your second job and ensure you receive credit for everything.
- As bad as it may be, stay close to your children. You cannot
immediately rebuke that which is told to your children, from 7811 miles
away.
Had I known I would lose both my children to their mothers
forked tongue, I would not have left to remarry and have the family
structure that was missing the first time.
When I was a child, my parents divorced. As a teenager I visited my father at his place of work one time and saw a photograph of my brother and I on his desk. It was an old photograph, taken when we first started school.
When I asked my father about it he said "It's my favorite photograph."
Earlier this week I was sitting at my own work desk when an employee asked about a photograph of my own daughters. The phrase rolled off my tongue.
"It's my favorite photograph."
And in a moment of revelation, I learned yet another thing about my own parents divorce. My father's favorite photograph was just that, because, that is all that he had.
The young girl in my photograph will be 21 in about three weeks. It's been four years since we spoke on the phone, and nine years since I have seen her. I have no idea who she is now.
With reverence to Ringo Starr, now, all I've got is a photograph.