Happy Hump Day, let's all cry together. Truly, you're in for a heartbreaker. Think The Fault In Our Stars level of tears, guys. This surpasses the usual millennial crying jags and is on a whole other level of cathartic sadness. For his 30th birthday, this son got a birthday card from his dead father, who wrote the letter before he passed. Here on the internet we've seen some heartwarming displays of parental love, but never a sentiment that was 16 years in the making. This father-son dynamic has LAYERS and is absolutely beautiful to experience.
Redditor ChrisBenRoy lost his father 16 years ago, when he was 14 years old. His mother held on to the card from his father, meant for his 30th birthday, and recently gave it to him.
He explains via Reddit thread:
My father passed away from Liver/Lung cancer in 1999 after battling it for a year and a half. After so much chemo and medication, he just couldn't take that quality of life anymore and realized it was his time to go. I assume at that point he bought cards for my brother and I's [sic] milestone birthdays. It caught me totally off guard and made me so very happy. It felt like he was still there, holding something I'd never seen before that he touched, and signed himself, it was if he had just done it yesterday.
Tears.
Here's the card:
ChrisBenRoy has received a huge swell of support on Reddit, and took the time to respond to his well-wishers.
On remembering his father, he says:
As time passes I find it harder and harder to remember him when he wasn't sick. I have a few memories but at this point they almost seem like Bigfoot-esque legends rather than my memories, seeing a card like I got yesterday brought it back to being real.
His comments reflect the feelings of others who lost a parent as a teenager, which is made clear through the Reddit comments. This post illustrates what it feels like to lose a parent and provides a forum for support, which is honestly refreshing to see on the ever-terrifying Internet.
Other users, some battling illness themselves, asked what he thought of his father's tactics, to which ChrisBenRoy replied:
You never want to move on. It's not an ex girlfriend, it's my dad, I never want to forget.
Images: Getty Images; Imgur
