Monday, July 18, 2016

The Daughter of an Absent Father

Photo credits E.M 

This world is unkind to the daughter of a failed husband and an absent father. Unkind because it is the likes of such that suffer from low self esteem. It is this kind that fall for men who are just like their fathers because a part of them desires that a man like her father would do better by her.

We are the kind of girls that are hard to love because insecurity haunts as close as a shadow.

We are afraid of silence because when our fathers were silent it meant that mum would be in her room crying and we would be indulging in some 'stuff' to divert our attention.

It gives us chills when a man, without even asking, wants us to prove ourselves, because we forget our worth and are inclined to live in pretense just so that we can be accepted.

To us achievements are a big deal because it is not only accorded on our portfolio but it goes a long way, maybe a mile longer than the normal girl, to reassure us of our value.

When you love a girl whose been broken by her father, you take the responsibility of not only loving her but signing a covenant to continuously reassure her of her beauty, her worth and her ability to thrive.

When you take her in as a friend you sign yourself up to boring and unending insecurity tales and self loath.

When the daughter of a failed husband and an absent father loves you she is relentless. She clings and threads on you because she sees you as all she's got. And because we love too hard we break twice as much.

She wants to hear from you daily. She aches for your compliments, your company is her gulp of water in a dry land. She desires all of you and gives all she's got because she figures that this opportunity may never trace it's way back.

This kind of child suffers from personality extremes of either being the loudest or the most quiet in a room because her father's absence is the voice clogging her system. Have you ever been called out by silence? It's like a demon's voice as you run home on a lone stretch…..deafening!

Our kind at times gets compensated by clatter of money and spoils but that doesn't cut across. There's this other lot that is not quite bred into moving from one end of CBD to the other in a kawaida taxi….or dining at the kawaida KFC….or swimming at the Hilton rooftop….or lounging at Wet Lounge. We are not even used to simple gifts from a man who is not in the 'friend-zone'..y'all know men in this zone never tire with gifts...hehe

And so when such gestures are extended to us they are a whole lot of a great deal. Hell we even get attached to the gestures and forget to reason critically as to whether or not we should give you our time.

Then there are those of us who go on a sex spree thinking that it's the libido that answers all our life's questions.

In life we are the kind who may feed from a rich man's bread crumbs because our worth is never fully reassured…..or settle for a degrading status because no matter how well achieved we are, we still don't see ourselves as enough.

All that mentioned, there's still a revolution of us being groomed. A modification of those who are learning to rise; and we are doing it gracefully.

We are learning to live for the small things because we've not been brought up to miss the details of a life's journey.

We are showing love in little acts of kindness and receiving it with cautious openness because we know how vulnerable we can be.

We are learning to first reason with our minds then sync it with our emotions; because no matter how gullible we can get, one must love with the heart, at least once. Loving not with the heart, is not living at all.

We have learnt to find our place in the ecosystem, to serve our purpose in the chain and to thrive in our passions.

We are learning to recognize what gives us fulfillment and what doesn't, just so that we can be happy in living out our joys.

What we do, we do it thoroughly because it's the only way life has been served to us.

We are rising...in confidence we are growing...and in happiness we are blooming!

We are out here giving hope, sharing testimonies, and even writing our stories over office lunch hours.

We are speaking out so that a father may read this and do better by their wives and children, and so that a daughter may read this and know that she's never alone.

judycngeno@gmail.com is my email. Share your story :)