I’ve written a lot about the storm—
the weight, the walls, the ache that lingers.
But I need you to know:
this darkness wasn’t yours to carry.
It was here before you,
and you’ve been my light through it all.
You didn’t cause the pain,
you’re the reason I’m healing from it.
Each day I keep going—
it’s because of you.
You saved me, without ever knowing how.
Not by fixing me—
but by loving me when I couldn’t love myself.
By showing me what matters.
By giving me something worth fighting for
when I didn’t think I was worth the fight.
If I ever seemed distant,
it wasn’t because I didn’t care—
it’s because I was still learning how to feel,
how to be here, fully.
But I was always trying.
Because I wanted to be better for you.
You are the reason I show up.
You are the home I never had.
You are the hope I didn’t think I deserved—
and the love that proved I do.
, you held my broken pieces
like they were made of gold.
You saw the man I could be
when all I saw was someone lost.
You didn’t give up.
You gave me grace.
You gave me us.
—
You are my joy, my fire, my second chance.
Every laugh, every hug,
every “I love you, Dad”
fills places in me I didn’t know were empty.
You are not a burden.
You are my reason.
So if you ever read the poems
that talk about pain,
please don’t ever think you caused it.
You rescued me from it.
You are the light in the lines.
You are the meaning in my words.
You are the love in my life.
And you always will be.
©manyfaces
M