"Don't say that, Daddy!" pleaded Rachel, tears streaming down her face.
"But it's true, Honey. I only have a small number of tomorrows left, but you have a lifetime of them. More than your six years of experience can ever imagine." he replied gently, his own cheeks stained with tears.
"Don't go! I'll do whatever it takes to keep you here." she bargained as she buried her face in her father's wide, strong chest.
"It doesn't work like that. If only it were that easy, I would never have to leave. I want to stay with you and Mom more than anything in the world." he assured the sobbing child.
Rachel suddenly stopped crying. She wiped her face with the sleeve of her Princess Belles dress, and smiled broadly. She then threw her arms around her very confused father's neck. He hugged her tight.
"Daddy, if you really can't keep from going, we will go with you! I don't mind leaving my house and friends. I will even leave my toys behind." she offered, both joy and sadness in her voice.
The big man's well tanned face went white as the blood drained from it. His knees buckled. He found himself kneeling before little Rachel, who looked at him curiously.
"Please, never say that again, Honey. The place I have to go to, neither you or Mom can follow me there for a long time. I want you to stay here, and take care of each other, and Fluffball, and Uncle Patrick. And Grandma Melanie."
"Can't we at least visit?" she sniffled, unhappy that her plan had been rejected.
"They don't allow visitors. But I will get news about you and Mom. I will always be thinking about you." he replied, while the familiar lump lodged in his throat yet again.
"Isn't there any way we can be together?" she asked, trusting that adults always had the answers.
"No Princess, I wish there was. I looked everywhere for it." he replied, hugging her so she wouldn't see that he had started to weep silently.
"Well how long will you be gone?" asked the ever practical child, who had never so much as lost a goldfish.
"Until you are like Grandma Melanie. Sometime after that, you will come see me." he replied, trying to explain death without adding to her sadness and trauma.
"Oh, then I will learn all I can, and try to hurry!" she promised.
"Don't hurry, just stay a little girl as long as you can. You will always be my Little Princess!" he managed to choke out among the tears.
Ten years later, after her sixteenth birthday party, Rachel found a little box on her bed. Next to it sat a DVD. "I wonder what this is?" she asked aloud. Mom had told her there would be one more present after the party, but refused to say more.
She decided that since there was no card or name tag, the DVD had to be the card. Rachel popped it into her laptop, and it began to play.
Her father appeared, exactly as she remembered him. The memory of the night he told her he had to leave came flooding back. She hadn't truly understood what he was saying. Despite both Mom and Dad trying to gently prepare her over the next two months, when the time came, she still hadn't fully grasped the concept of death. The reality of it hit her six year old heart, soul, and mind like a ton of bricks.
"My Little Princess, today you turn sixteen. I know you are a beautiful young woman. Both inside and out. In honor of this day, I bought you a little present. I hope you will like it, and remember, I am always with you.
My tomorrows in this world are few, not nearly enough to watch you grow up. I want to be here with you today more than anything. But at the same time, my tomorrows are going to be many. Honey, every time you go to the beach, or look at the sky, I will be right there beside you. Enjoy everything good that the world has to offer. In this way I will have my tomorrow."
The short video had her in tears, but at the same time smiling. She would honor his wishes, and live life to the fullest.
"I wonder what he got me?" she mused, picking up the little box. It was pink and yellow, with a white ribbon. When she pulled on the ribbon, the lid popped up, revealing an exquisite charm bracelet, with a single charm dangling.
She gasped, stunned by the beauty and detail. It was a tiny sun peeking above ocean waves. Along the beach was the inscription "Tomorrow is never a sure thing, so enjoy today's sunrise and sunset."
Rachel held it to her for a long time, crying tears of both joy and sadness. Then she opened the clasp, and put it on for the first time. She went outside, and let the sun's last rays reflect off of it. "Here's your tomorrow, Dad." whispered Rachel.
Cover image made in Canva using their gallery