Chapter 10 - The Letter My Late Husband Had Left Behind Changed the Way I Saw My SonAfter everything ended, I began cleaning the attic.
I found Daniel's old toolbox.
Inside was an envelope.
My name was written on it.
I opened it.
It was a letter from my husband, written shortly before his death.
He had apparently known he didn't have much time.
The letter said:
Margaret,
If you're reading this, Ethan is grown.
Please remember something.
Our job was never to make his life easy.
Our job was to teach him how to live when life became difficult.
I sat on the attic floor crying.
Daniel had understood something I had forgotten.
I had spent years protecting Ethan from hardship.
In doing so, I had accidentally protected him from responsibility.
I folded the letter.
Then I called Ethan.
“Can you come over?”
He arrived an hour later.
I gave him the letter.
He read it.
Then he sat quietly.
“He wrote this before I graduated.”
“Yes.”
“I wish I'd been better.”
“You can still be better.”
He looked at me.
“How?”
“Start by becoming financially independent.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
“And emotionally independent.”
He laughed through tears.
“That one might take longer.”
May you like
I smiled.
“Then start tomorrow.”
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