From someone who has sat on the porch in the wee hours waiting far too many times than I ever should have:

Thank you for writing this.

Love and hugs to the girl.

Love to the woman who lets her fly.

Love to the family, so full of life.

Love.

Sweetheart, that boy did not love you the way you should be loved. Period.

It's such a relief sometimes to be able to say goodbye.

I'm glad you know how much you deserve to be loved. Cause you do.

Good for you... For saying goodbye and for loving yourself too.

De-lurking to say I've had to let a Girl go before, too. It took me a very long time to realize it was one of the best things I ever did. If your heart is too full with the past, how can it be open for the future?

Thanks for sharing this journey with us.

Goodbye girl.

This was sadly beautiful. It was painful to read; as if I were watching it all from my porch. I loved your last line, "we don't need to share the same sun."

it figures that he wouldn't show. Good for you for not waiting to get on with your life.

It is such a process. You have to feel the pain in order to let it go. You are doing good Hon.

(((hugs)))

*sigh*

Incredible, yet again. You do deserve so much, but not that. I'm glad you had the strength to realize it.

wow, girl...look at you. just look at you go.

so beautiful jenn, oh how i admire you, your insight, your courage, your honesty, your growth. and i am watching in awe as your strength and beauty now shines brighter than any sun ever could.

goodbye, Girl. Hello, you.

I'm glad you and Girl will be okay.

I've waited in vain too. I'm glad you were able to let go. I think someday you'll fnd someone who knows how to love you and then you'll wonder why you were ever willing to accept less.

It's the waiting that's hard.

Good for you, Jenn, good for you.

I know you've heard it before but he SO doesn't deserve you and he definitely doesn't deserve Little A. If you think for just a minute of what that porch sitting could do to Little A you'll know you've made the right choice.

I raised two kids alone until I met PC and we were fine. They knew they were the center of the universe just like they were supposed to be. There was never any waiting and wondering for someone else to love them.

I was raised by parents who divorced when I was four and I was the girl who was ready two hours early and sat on the steps waiting for a father who was inevitably two hours late. And my father wasn't even ambivalent he loved us but we probably weren't the center of any universe we could discern.

Little A deserves all that she has: YOU and Big A and the certain knowlege that everyone in her universe loves her.

YOU deserve someone who can step in and step up and love all of you that much.

It's going to be one brilliant sun. Can't wait to watch you cast shadows beneath it as you walk with your gorgeous head held high into the next chapter we've talked about.

Jenn... you are so very inspiring. Thank you for sharing this internal journey with us. You're more brave than most I know. Bless you, and the A's.

I know how it feels to wait, to hope, to still expect the best from someone who doesn't deserve your heart.

Like Not A Princess, I've raised two children on my own until I met GH, and if I can get through, You certainly can.

You have a beautiful heart, magical words and a powerful soul. Most importantly, you have little A :)

"He was on a boat, laughing, in the sun, with a different girl, getting sunburned and ignoring the calls of Little A's godfather, telling him to get to the hospital to give blood for a transfusion."

Oh my. I hate to say it, but I'm strangely glad that it turned out this way. That man clearly wasn't deserving of you or Little A.

Yes good for you!

Im glad to see that you're stronger and able to move past all of it :-)

I've waited like that too -- waited until (twelve years later) I finally realized that the person I was waiting for wasn't who I'd imagined him to be. Saying goodbye to that was one of my best decisions.

Good for you.

Wow - I started reading here from the first Girl post. And have been waiting to see the outcome.

I'm glad that it was you who could let that Girl go. Instead of him.

Now that you've let her go, you can find all of those things with someone who deserves you. Companionship, loyalty, love.

Good luck to you.

Breathtaking and beautiful and so full of grace.

It seems
wherever I go people come into my life and go out of it,
touching me where I can feel it, then leaving only a memory
like the fairy tales of childhood;
and I wasn't through knowing them yet.


How do you know when you are seeing someone for the last time?
How do you stop and gather all those around you that
you've ever known and loved?
And, how do you keep fairy tales from losing their magic?


So come--
brush against the walls of my life
and stay long enough for us to know each other,
even though you know we'll have to part sometime;
and we both know the longer you stay the more I'll want you back
when you are gone.
But come anyway, for fairy tales are the happiest stories I know
and great books are made up of little chapters.


(author unknown)

Also, as Maya Angelou once said, "When someone shoes you his true colors--belive him."

This man showed you his *true* colors on multiple occasions. Even putting aside the many insults he inflicted upon you, his utter lack of involvement with his child speaks volumes. He's an adult, not someone you should have to convice or coerce to be involved with his child. Believe his true colors. And equally, if not more important, believe in your own worth....I'm not a huge Dr. Phil fan, but I do agree to a large extent that "you teach people how to treat you." Keep your chin up and show the world you're the awesome person that is so evident to many of us!

Girls grow up.

And it's not easy.

This was so very beautiful. You know that don't you?

to echo the sentiments of other posters, he doesn't deserve you guys, at all. Good for you.

He betrayed both you and your daughter. It's a good thing to let go of. And I'm sending you a hug.

Sometimes it takes a Woman to gently show a Girl the truth. You did and I think you'll be the better for it.

He didn't deserve you.

So beautiful and sad at the same time.

He wasn't worthy of you. I'm glad you recognize that.

Sometimes it feels better to let go than you would ever realise...we only find out that it doesn't hurt as badly as we thought that it would when we actually have the strenght to let go.

I don't think there could be a better resolution to this story, friend.

Good for you...hopefully someday I'll be able to let my girl go too. She doesn't show herself to many people, but she's there...and I see her more often than I'd like to.

I'm speechless. This was beautiful.

this was amazing.

i think if you squint a little bit past the horizon you can see her dancing. it's good to say good bye to her, but never completely lose sight ofher either.
{{hugs}}

She is so lucky to have such a wonderful Mama.

I'm sorry you've gone through this.

You know that old song "...where is the good in goodbye"? I think you just found the good.

Excellent! Amazing! Inspiring!