Patty is long gone and moved on and I am glad of it. Although, I wish she had thought to say good bye to Una, or to have left me with a promise to come and see her soon. But she didn't. It only confirmed to me the lack of character that Patty had.
In the aftermath of her absence, the storm of adversity still went on. I battled being a single father, caring solely for Una. I relied on my own resourcefulness to gain a baby sitter through an agency to watch her during the day while I worked at the police station. When I got home, I played, fed and bathed Una. My evenings consisted of devoting every moment to my daughter until I had her in bed for the night. And once she was in bed, I found that I could barely keep my eyes open due to my long shifts on the job and the stress of being the sole caretaker for a baby.
The first two months were hardest without Patty. It seemed as if Una knew of her absence and cried in mourning over the loss of her mother. Una was clearly pining for her despite everything. I seemed to be of little comfort to Una at times. And those long nights when I paced the floors, bouncing Una on my shoulder, I wondered how could Patty have foresaken the love of her daughter for flippant love affairs and selfish desires to better her career.
After awhile, Una seemed to either forget Patty or come to terms in her own infantile way that Patty wasn't coming back and the crying bouts abated.
As time went on, I got to know more about my daughter, and more of her personality came out to shine. She loved bananas and mangoes, she would giggle at the sight of a pink bunny stuffed animal, she loved it when I would make monkey faces at her. Most of all, I noticed how much of myself I saw in her. She had my eyes, my mother's face.
My life had settled into a pattern and at some point in the past the storm I had been weathering out had ceased and I had found a comfortable pace for me and Una.
My, how time seems to fly. The happy moments speeding time on before I was ready for it.
And despite all that, when I look at my child, my daughter, I know that indeed, I have found my rightful place in life and I have true joy.
~Tom Calico, Captain of my destiny
I have read every single chapter, and I must say I love this legacy! It is really good and I look forward to the next chapters. I put a link to this blog on my legacy blog :) Maybe you could read mine (its still at the early stages, I only decided to publish it today :P)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the link to my blog is http://jordie09sims.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteGlad to see he is doing his best as a single parent. I read an article in a sociology class once about mothers who decide to leave their families, it is a very difficult decision to make and I feel bad for Patty.
ReplyDelete@ Jordie - So glad you're enjoying it. I'm hoping there's more happy stuff coming to make up for the crummy time Tom had. We'll see!
ReplyDeleteThanks Seaweedy - I feel bad for Patty too, in a way. I don't think there's ever an easy decision where children are involved so no doubt it was hard to walk away.