This dad’s letter to his daughter on her wedding day makes our hearts swell

On June 27th, 2015, Paul Daugherty walked his daughter, 25-year-old Jillian, down the aisle. She was marrying her boyfriend of ten years, Ryan Mavripilis. Earlier in the day, as Jillian prepared for the ceremony, Paul sat down to write her a letter. The result was a stunning meditation on parenting and love that has now gone viral.

Paul is a writer for a living; he’s a sports columnist for the Cincinnati Enquirer, as well as the author of An Uncomplicated Life, a memoir about raising Jillian, who has Down syndrome. This essay serves as an epilogue to his book, and a gift to both his daughter and the thousands of families who’ve been touched by his words.

 “It is the afternoon of your wedding,” begins Paul’s letter, which was published last week in The Mighty. “. . . In two hours, you will take the walk of a lifetime, a stroll made more memorable by what you’ve achieved to get to this day. I don’t know what the odds are of a woman born with Down syndrome marrying the love of her life. I only know you’ve beaten them.” Paul went on to describe how beautiful his daughter looked that day, and how proud he was to be her father. “You are upstairs now, making final preparations with your mom and bridesmaids,” he wrote. “Your hair is coiled perfectly above your slender neck. Your bejeweled dress – ‘my bling,’’ you called it – attracts every glimmer of late afternoon sunshine pouring through the window. . . We live for moments such as these, when hopes and dreams intersect at a sweet spot in time.”

He expressed how amazing of a child she was, how she performed so well, but she had to struggle to make friends at age 12 — to find people who would accept her. But now, this wedding is a symbol of everything she can accomplish:

He knows that this marriage is exactly what his daughter wants, and that it’s a challenge, but she will face it head on. . . just like she always does.

But the way Paul ends it — that’s what brings it home. “‘I’ll always be your little girl” is what she says then. ‘Yes, you will,’ I manage. ‘Time to go, I say. We have a walk to make.’”

Naturally, when The Mighty shared this absolutely beautiful essay on their Facebook page, it got a ton of attention — with some parents expressing gratitude to Paul for putting their own experience into words.

“I can’t even tell you how much I love this post,” wrote one commenter. “. . . When my son was diagnosed in December all I could think about is who will love my son. Who will accept him for all that my husband and I see in him. . . I love my son with all my heart and I know from posts like this he will have the best life that we will help him create and [that] he [will] create on his own.”

After his post went viral, and was shared over 6,000 times, Paul explained to Buzzfeed that he wrote his letter, not only for his daughter, but to provide “hope” for so many other parents. And that is clearly what he’s done.

(Images via Facebook, Twitter)