Dear Dad,

I’ve only known you for eight years.

I remember the first time I met you. The first time you came to pick up my mom.

And I hated you. I did.

Little did I know you would mean so much to me in so little time.

Little did I know you would become the man my brother and I always needed in our lives.

Biologically, you are not my father.

But you are my dad.

That day, you were the first guy my mother had dated since the bitter divorce.

But just a few months later, you were the man who came at just the right time. The man we needed.

And I couldn't thank you enough for it.

Biologically, you are not my father.

But you are my dad.

You have done so much for me in just these eight years. So much more than the man who helped create me could even fathom.

Biologically, you are not my father.

But you are my dad.

Thank you for staying up late, teaching me linear equations.

Thank you for being there with me on my high school graduation day.

Thank you for moving me into college.

Thank you for paying for my college.

Thank you for being a constant.

Biologically, you are not my father.

But you are my dad.

You will be the one to walk me down the aisle.

You will be in the crowd of my college graduation.

And when I turn eighteen, I’m taking your last name.

I am not your responsibility.

I never was.

I was your choice.

Not your obligation.

You fell in love with my mother.

You married my mother.

We are a package deal.

You thought you were going to be my step-in.

But you’re not.

Biologically, you are not my father.

But you are my dad.

So thank you dad.

Thank you.

Love,

Your daughter