Daddy, Don’t Leave Me
(Daddy’s Little Girl by Frankie J)
Gasping for air in the middle of the night, Hoda’s screams shook the house. Hoda’s parents rushed to her room in frenzy. With red puffy eyes, Hoda whimpered and looked up at her terrified father and threw herself in his arms. “Promise, daddy, that you will never leave me?”
But he did anyway, didn’t he?
Hoda’s parents had a huge argument that night. Hurtful words were exchanged between the struggling couple. They thought the children had gone to bed, but Hoda was wide awake. She heard it all—their plan to divorce, her mother’s demand for money, her father’s pleas to keep the family bond, her father’s threats to leave and disappear forever; her mother’s crying.
Hoda started having nightmares.
The months to come after the dark night are vague in her mind. All she remembers is her grandmother moving-in, her father moving-out and her recurring nightmares every night. She was now falling behind at school; her grades were poor. Nothing was the same.
She remembers her father coming back with uncles and aunts to reconcile, but with no avail. The divorce was inevitable. No matter how hard she prayed, worked on school work and did her chores. Their family was broken forever and now her daddy was leaving her.
Hoda blamed herself for the divorce. She remembers the last time she saw her father. It was a gloomy night. They met at her grandmother’s home. Her father had tried to convince her mother, one last time, to bring their family back together. But her parents started fighting once again. Her father stormed out of the house, angry.
Hoda rushed to the balcony, maybe she could fix this, it was her last chance. “He will surely come back for his little darling girl” she reasoned. As loud as she could scream, “daddy, daddy, daddy come back,” but he didn’t hear her. He walked away. He left his little girl to face the world all alone.
“Oh daddy why did you leave me, you promised?
**
I used to envy my friend Hoda in the fifth grade. Her parents had divorced earlier that school year. Somehow after her parents’ divorce she became the center of attention of every teacher and student. Teachers excused her tardiness and incomplete homework; suddenly, everyone wanted to be Hoda’s friend. I so wanted to be in Hoda’s place, someone ‘special.’ But how wrong was I to wish something so painful? I was only a foolish child to think of divorce as a game. Any child of a divorced household can see the pain in Hoda’s story, but isn’t divorce sometimes the best solution to a marriage gone bad. The implications of a negative household, on the children, is worse than the separation.
I pray that we stay strong in our families.
Responses
Wow, what a poignant post. The video made me cry. I was a child of divorce. My father left our family when I was 14, and it was not fun at all. I don’t know if parents realize how hard divorce is on their children. They are the victims of a situation they have zero control over, and in an effort to save their families, they often internally bear the responsibility. I realize that sometime divorce really is the best solution—but in my opinion, the only grounds for divorce are abuse and unfaithfulness. Marriage is a commitment, but sadly many couples that marry today don’t necessarily see it as such or treat it as such. The family unit is the foundation of society. What is society coming to if we don’t preserve our families? Thank you for posting.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/18 at 03:32 PM
Yes, unhappy marriages can be devastating for children, but that is why couples have to do everything they can to stay together. Humility is essential, compromise and self-sacrifice inevitable. But happiness is possible even in the most unlikely of unions. But self-sacrifice is not the same as accepting abuse, and unfortunately I think in some cultures it is expected that abuse be put up with the for sake of the family unit. But what kind of family is built on abuse?
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