What This Dad Did To His Daughter’s Lunch Will Make Every Parent Bawl


Growing up is hard to do, and no one understands that better than hormonal, acne-ridden teenagers in high school. However, the only ones that suffer more than them are their parents.

Eventually, children grow up. Mothers stare death in the face during hours of agonizing labor pains before holding this helpless, living being within their arms. This child, naked and screaming and fearful, is held close to her bosom for months before this little child learns to walk.

And from there, time seems to pass in the blink of an eye.

Mothers groan and put their heads in their hands when their children won’t sleep through the night and some guzzle down coffee pots full of precious midnight oil when their two-year-old wakes up at 4 AM to have a tea party. Mothers put their faces in their hands and cry when they can’t get their children to poop in the toilet, and the cry those same rivers of tears whenever their child graduates from high school.

But one dad found a unique way to finally acknowledge that his daughter was all grown up.

Tom Sullivan, Meg’s father, has been peeling her oranges for her to take with her to lunch ever since she was in kindergarten. But now, with Meg graduating high school, her father has taken a… slightly different approach.

While many people thought the gesture was funny, it is also bittersweet. This note serves as a stark reminder that Meg is now entering a new chapter in her life where she will now be more dependent upon herself and less dependent upon her parents. It signals the beginning of many different things she will now need to start doing on her own, and it signals a silent message from a father to his daughter that he now will begin temperating the difference between swooping in to save the day and encouraging his daughter to find her own way to swoop in and save herself.

Meg will be leaving her hometown of Tacoma, Washington, and be off to Grand Canyon University in Phoenix come the fall. She will be sad leaving her father, whom she has lived with the majority of her life since her parent’s divorce, and we are all sure it will be hard on good ol’ dad to see her go.

After all, Meg is his last child attending college, and that empty nest syndrome will be quickly creeping up.

But, behind every heartwarming story that originates on Twitter, there is always a flood of those who are simply overwhelmed with emotion, and this story is no different.

https://twitter.com/mehmet_dogan/status/870984255853264896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Faplus.com%2Fa%2Fdad-peels-oranges-for-daughter%3Fno_monetization%3Dtrue

Emotional reactions on Twitter are usually short-lived within the minds of its own contributing citizens, but we know this beautiful gesture by Meg’s father will be remembered for the rest of her lifetime.

Good luck in college, Meg, and remember: don’t forget to visit your dad!

 

Featured image courtesy of The Organised Housewife.

Tiffany Willis Clark is a fifth-generation Texan and the founder and editor-in-chief of The Best Stuff Online, AmReading.com, and a few other websites. In 2011, she made the decision to pursue her dreams and become a full-time writer. Tiff is obsessed with finding the most interesting, coolest stuff online and sharing it with the world. Connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on Twitter, and like her Facebook page.