A note from Dad

My sweet Paityn,

I want to start with something really simple and really important: I’m sorry. Not in a big, scary way – just in the real, “Dad being honest” way.

I’m sorry I haven’t been able to be around you as much as I wish I could. I’m sorry if that ever made you feel confused, or like you were forgotten, or like I just disappeared.

You weren’t forgotten. Not for a single day.

Every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to sleep, I think about you. I wonder what you’re learning, what you’re laughing at, how tall you’re getting, and what new things you’re excited about. You’re always with me, even when I’m not right next to you.

I need you to know this clearly: none of this has ever been your fault. Nothing you did made any of this happen. You are not the problem. You are one of the best parts of my life.

Sometimes grown-up life has really big, complicated things in it – money, work, housing, rules, and a lot of stuff that kids should never have to worry about. While I’ve been working through all of that, I’ve also been working on something else:

building a better life so you can have a better future with me in it.

That’s what all this “Rolling Redemption” work has really been about. On the outside, it looks like trucks, programs, banks, sponsors and big ideas. But under all of that, there’s one quiet truth: I want to be the kind of dad you can be proud of.

I want a life where we can have time together that isn’t full of chaos. Where you can feel safe, steady, and loved. Where I can show you that even when life gets really hard, people can get back up and keep going.

You might still have questions, and that’s okay. When life makes space for us to talk, you can ask me anything. I’ll always do my best to answer you honestly in words that make sense for you – not just grown-up stress-talk.

For now, I just want you to remember this part most:

I love you, Paityn.
I am proud of you.
And I am working every single day to make our future better than our past.

Nothing will ever change that. You are my heart walking around in the world.

With all my love,
Daddy

(If someone else is reading this with you, that’s okay too. This is still your page.)