Havent seen my step daughter, in about 10,

[kozar]

Years. ( previous MrsK)
I never adopted her, but when she was 14 years old, wife asked me if she could come live with us, I said, " sure, your family is mine" we had a good 4 years, till she turned 18.
I was sitting here, with LilG, last eve, and remembered, it's her birthday today, , she is 42 today! should I call her?( I remember that because her and my Bdays were back to back)
Well, I did, and she answered.
3 hours later, we hung up.
We laughed, sobbed a bit because, of our history. She asked personal questions about me, I answered them.
When we closed, she said , " Love you Dad, sometimes, I need to talk, can I call you?"
I just said " anytime"
There is still , Love in this world, reach, for, Love.
Sorry for the ramble,

Koz

[Doodley]

1. Great story! Glad you called!

[Hugin]

2. Sweet ramble.

[MineralMan]

3. I'm glad you reached out.

It's good for both of you, I think.

[True Blue American]

4. Great Dad!❤️‍🩹👏✔️

[elleng]

5. Great to hear, Koz!

[barbtries]

6. Kozar,

this makes me happy. Was it as if the years between just melted away? That's how it is when a good friend and I get together after years apart - like we just picked up the same conversation as if that time had not even passed.

so good, for you both!

[kozar]

13. No, the years,

Didn't melt away, both of us, were afraid, of making , the first step.

Koz

[a kennedy]

7. Hey, you just ramble on baby......so happy you did call her. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

All we need is love.

[malaise]

41. Me too

Rec

[Pucks mom]

8. Got something in my eye

I'm not crying you are

[artemisia1]

9. Good work. We need connections now more than ever. /nt

[Magoo48]

10. Very Kool.

[Dem2theMax]

11. This is absolutely wonderful!

I'm so happy for both of you that you reached out, and it was such a positive connection!

[Bumbles]

12. Too often pride and misunderstandings get in the way of love.

I'm so happy for you that you called.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. Sounds just perfect Koz.

[ultralite001]

15. Boy, howdy... This makes me miss my dad...

Oh, for one more mindless chat...
Those talks could make sense during the darkest days...
❤❤❤ you, Pops...

[Fla Dem]

16. I'm so happy for you that you reconnected. Sounds like you need each other.

I wonder if there was someone in the hereafter that gave you a nudge.

[Deuxcents]

17. Sounds like a happy birthday for both of you. Hope you two have many more with sweet memories 🌺

[arkielib]

18. That is a wonderful story.

Thank you for sharing it. Happy Birthday to you both!

[pandr32]

19. That is wonderful!

[FirstLight]

20. Thanks for sharing,

you're right. We need to reach for the LOVE we share with others and try not to get sucked into the whirlpool of negativity...

My ex had driven away both my kids, told me they hated me and they only wanted to take me for everything I had. (Well, guess what, that's exactly what SHE almost did)... The day she left (got arrested for almost killing me) I called my BFF and said "please text my kids, I need my babies back!"

My daughter called me within hours, and we've been in constant contact since. As I am working through therapy with family trauma, we are both sharing memories and stories, and I am able to apologize for so much that I didn't realize hurt their childhood/self.
My son, he took a bit of time, eventually texted my BFF the he was ok, and asked how I was. I haven't re-connected because he still has much of the abusiver tendencies that seem to reside in the males of our family. I hope eventually we can work on that as well...

This thanksgiving, I am alone for the first time. I will make a "dumb supper" and set a place for my parents/ancestors, and a place for my children...and send them as much love and gratitude as I can.

Still so much healing to be done, but it ripples towards both the past and the future, and the LOVE is definitely what matters!

HUGS to you!

[kozar]

46. Ty firstlight,

All I can say, reach out, and expect nothing.But, you gotta reach out.


Koz

[malaise]

47. A great Thanksgiving message

Hope you had a great birthday😀

[LetMyPeopleVote]

21. Thank you for posting this

[gay texan]

22. Awwwwww....

[Hope22]

23. ❤️❤️❤️🙏🏼

[NoMoreRepugs]

24. Good for u Koz. Need to hear something positive in these dark days.

[TommieMommy]

25. Fantastic. So happy for you 👍💙😁

[electric_blue68]

26. No, it a good, lovely story to share. 👍

[badhair77]

27. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful story.

It’s nice to be reminded that there’s good in this world. Blessings to you and your family.

[Rebl2]

28. How

wonderful for you!

[dlk]

29. I'm so glad you took the risk of calling and it has worked out so well for you

Sometimes, doing something small can make a truly enormous difference. The holidays will be even sweeter for your this year. Congratulations!

[Katinfl]

30. That is so wonderful to hear.

Happy that you both found each other again. It doesn’t get any better than that.

[cilla4progress]

31. Absolutely, Kozar!

I support this message so much!!!

I truly and always belive in reaching for love. You can't go wrong!

[NorCalBlue]

32. Just goes to show you

It’s never too late. And there is never too much distance.

[grandpamike1]

33. A big

Thank you for that.A lot of folks need to do that In there own relationships.

[DFW]

34. Wonderful post!

You didn’t mention why there was a drift apart, but the repair job seems to have gone flawlessly.

[Meowmee]

35. That is great to hear 😀

[ShazamIam]

36. Thank you Kozar for telling us, I needed a tear jerker love story today.

Obviously you were a wonderful step-Father, I am happy for you today.

[ohtransplant]

37. Great dad moment!

Sometimes we have to be the one to reach out and risk rejection and/or indifference.

Kudos to you for making the move! I admire your courage.

[malaise]

38. What A lovely OP

[elocs]

39. I can empathize with what you went through because I am earlier into that now.

I have known my goddaughter since she was 7 months old and her father had walked out of her life so I tried to be as much of a father to her as I could. I helped teach her how to talk and walk, how to tie her shoes and ride a bike. She called me by my first name, "Steve".
One day after church when she was maybe 3 I went to pick her up at the nursery I saw the parents of other kids picking them up. At this time she would still sometimes see her father who insisted on being called "Pa", so I asked her, "where is Pa" and she answered brightly, "oh, he's at his house". I then asked her, "where is daddy" and she looked at me puzzled and said, "you're daddy" although I had never been called that but she understood there was a difference between "pa" and "daddy" because I was always there for her. My house, every room and even the yard is a memory palace of her for me from her first Christmas, her first birthday, she is there. It's the only home where she has lived that she could return to visit. She grew up a bright and happy girl.

Then at age 16 she was struck with the tragedy of mental illness--schizoaffective disorder, which is schizophrenia and bipolar and many institutionalizations and hospitalizations here in Wisconsin in many different places. Currently she is only 40 miles from me at a mental health center where she has been 4 times before. Only now she has a state appointed guardian and her mother, the person who hates me the most in all the world has the ear of the guardian who has ruled that my goddaughter shall not have any contact with me. So I have not seen her in 2 years now when previous when she was at this place 40 miles away I would drive to see her every weekend when we had a 4 hour pass and we could go out to where we wanted to go and I always had her back on time, telling her to respect and obey the staff. I haven't heard from her now for 4 months and don't even know if she is alive or dead.

But I do in a sense have contact with her because every week I send her a package from Amazon and the package does not say who sent it and those that are deliver by Amazon show who signed for them so I know when she received them and I have sent her things that she knows came from me. A poor substitute from being able to see her, but I'll take what I can get.

The point of this long story is to encourage those who are experiencing something similar to hang in there because there are others who are going through what we are. What I resent is that I am an old man now and every week I am kept from my goddaughter is another opportunity robbed from me of seeing her again that is lost forever. (When you get old you experience a heightened sense awareness of the sands of time falling from you that are lost forever.)

[kanda]

43. Heartbreaking

Oh Elocs--my heart breaks for you. I hope and pray that someday soon you'll be able to connect again. To know that you're sending her anonymous Amazon gifts warms my heart. Blessings to you.

[elocs]

49. My nickname for her as a kid was "Pooh", so when I send her something from Winnie the Pooh,

she knows it came from me. There are other examples like that where she knows it came from me. The downside of this is that if the packages stop for whatever reason she will worry that something has happened to me.

My small Wisconsin city has hundreds of homeless, many who are mentally ill, some schitzoaffective like my goddaughter. At least I know she is in a safe place.

[kozar]

54. Elocs, my nick

For LilBit, was always, " Bucko"
It was the first words I ever said to her,whenwe met,
Hiyas,Bucko

[arthritisR_US]

45. This breaks my heart, what a wonderful human being you

are and the universe needs to step up get you two back together.

[Hekate]

55. My wish for you is peace

[CaptainTruth]

40. Awww! That is so wonderful. I'm so happy for you!

[kanda]

42. wonderful!

So happy for you. Tears of joy. May your relationship to grow in a positive direction.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

44. Oh Koz, you literally brought tears to my eyes because I didn't have a Daddy, I had a malignant Narcissist. Your baby

girl is SO blessed to have you in her life. Though you might not be related through DNA, you have something between the two of you that is the strongest thing in the UNIVERSE.....love. I would have given almost anything to have a dad like you.

I've been here since 2005 and read so many posts of yours that literally warmed my heart. The world needs more men like you and I, for one, want you to know how much I admire you. I recently turned 60, (oh Lawd, I'll be 61 in January, lol) & even though I don't know you on a personal basis, I am SO proud of men like you who truly love your children, irregardless of whether you share DNA or a "gotcha day". I just wanted to tell you what I felt when I read your post. You're a wonderful man and human being.

[bobnicewander]

48. Ramble all you want

Reading your story is like getting a gift for me and I think sharing love is the greatest gift for both of you this holiday season. Indeed, it's a wonderful life!

[Amaryllis]

50. So nice to read something happy. THank you.

[magicarpet]

51. So nice that you reached out and opened that door,..

...to chat, converse, and communicate.

[kozar]

52. Thanks,

I joined DU cuz we loved,,
Now it's just vids of hate to Trump
I've asked Earl to call me

Guess he's counting his money for all these vids,
We can't, love, be Dems, anymore

[calimary]

53. YES there is still love in this world. There's your proof.

I do love happy endings!