A woman getting married after losing her father a couple of years before receives a gift from him — it was a letter he wrote just in case he did not make it to the event.
POP!!!! That was the sound Kelly's brilliant blue balloon made when it landed on the thinned rose bush planted in their backyard.
The sound was quickly followed by the wailing of the seven-year-old Kelly, who had been playing with it. Her father, Evan Johnson, had been in his garage tinkering with his truck — a contraption he built from the ground up himself.
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When he heard the pop, he knew what would follow and had already started making his way to his little girl by the time the first piercing wail got out. His little girl was a feisty one.
"Sorry about your balloon dear," he told her. "But if you close your eyes and count to 20, daddy will turn back time so you can have it again."
"Promise?" she asked, looking up at him with large doe eyes the color of the sky — just like his.
"I do pumpkin. Now go ahead and close those eyes," he said. As soon as she did, he left her and quickly made his way to the front of the house, where his bicycle awaited him.
Quick as a bullet, the doting father rode to the closest convenience store he could find and bought ten blue balloons. His daughter reached zero just as he appeared in the backyard with one of the balloons.
"Honey, I turned back time! Look what I have!" he said as he slowly filled the balloon with air.
Kelly had been overjoyed and broke into giggles as she impatiently waited to collect her new balloon before giving him a hug. The balloons later faded from Kelly's memories, but she was reminded of them 15 years later on her wedding day.
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Her father had passed away two years before from a severe heart condition that often made him lose consciousness. One day, he just never woke up.
Kelly missed him fiercely, and so did her mother, Evelyn. She and Evan had loved each other terribly — their relationship was so beautiful that their daughter decided to use it as a blueprint for hers.
That led her to her soul mate, Gray Sanders. They met at an art exhibition and got into a lively discussion about art and what the rich have been using to achieve for decades.
After it ended, they had both been unwilling to part ways. "I should probably go now," Gray had said as they exited the museum where the exhibition took place.
"You should," Kelly eplied, yet she continued keeping pace with him until they found themselves in a restaurant.
That was their first date, and within a handful of weeks, they had several more dates during which they decided that they indeed liked each other.
After a year of dating, Kelly took him home to meet her folks, who readily welcomed him. Her father and Gray especially got along well because of their love for contemporary arts, and they spent many nights visiting displays together.
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When Evan passed away, Gray was almost as sad as Kelly because, in a lot of ways, he had come to see the man as a father — his had never been present.
The night before Gray and Kelly were to tie the knot, she dreamed that he would walk her to the altar and give her away. "I am very proud of you Kelly," she heard him say.
It was all he would be able to get out before a faceless man wearing a doctor's coat would appear with a terrible diagnosis — the same one that had claimed his life.
She woke up that night from her dream with a gasp that would have woken Gray had he been sleeping beside her. He had not; her mother had been very straight with them: "You both have no business together until you meet yourselves at the aisle."
On her wedding day, Kelly could not help but imagine that her father was nearby watching the whole thing unfold, that she was holding his arm. After the couple exchanged their vows, Evelyn stood up to make an announcement.
"Thank you all for gracing this occasion with your presence and being witness to the matrimony of my daughter and her lovely husband Gray Sanders," she said, pausing as clapping filled the air.
"Kelly," she said, facing her daughter. "What is about to happen is my and Evan's gift to you."
Suddenly, nine giant blue balloons filled with helium floated into the wedding hall, and then Evan appeared on a video.
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"Hey, pumpkin. If you're seeing this video, then I did not make it to your wedding. Life can be funny like that sometimes but I am glad for every moment that it gave me with you and your mother. I'm glad I was on this planet, that I met your mom, and that we had you. You will always be with me and I with you because love is eternal. It never dies."
"Daddy," Kelly said as tears ran freely down her cheeks.
"Do you remember the day your balloon burst?" Evan asked, to which she nodded.
"You cried. So I bought ten more of those balloons, one of which I blew and gave to you. The nine others I found in my pocket just now are what inspired me to make this video. I want them, like this footage, to be a wedding present for you. Let them remind you that true love never dies. Be happy, my love, for your joy is my joy."
By the time the video ended, all the guests were crying. Kelly went up to her mother and hugged her. "This is the best wedding gift ever," she whispered as they hugged.
"Leave it to Evan to sweep everyone off their feet even though he's not in the room," Evelyn chuckled. The wedding proceeded without a hitch, and Kelly Johnson became Kelly Sanders–Johnson in honor of her loving father.
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Pexels
What did we gain from this story?
- Learn from your parents' experiences. Kelly's parents had a great relationship, and it helped her form a good standard to find a suitable man for her.
- Be grateful for the time you have. Evan spent years watching his daughter grow up and was also lucky enough to meet the man she wished to marry, so when his death came, he met it with no regret — he was simply grateful for having lived.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a lady who dreamed of walking down the aisle with her dad she believed to be dead, and hears his voice on her wedding day.