Dear Kelly.....

I know you hardly know me but I think I do you. Through your music I have. Through your smile and charm much more. I see how much you have achieved without him. I can tell how far you have come. To you, it's almost as if he never existed. You craved his love but when you found it in another family, another man, you pushed him to the back of your mind. It's great that you got that though, a family that took you in and brought you up as one of their own. I know you owe all you are today to them, but in all honesty you turned out to be only who God wanted you to be.

And girl, look how far you have come! and just when you think you got your life all figured out, there he comes asking for you to come back into his. Once upon a time you craved that, but now no more. I know you have turned it over in your mind, I know you have considered your options. How do you go about doing just that? How do you learn to love one who you hardly know? Who you know him to be, from little tid-bits you had gathered about him come flooding back; is he still like that or has he changed? Does he really love you or it's just about the fame, the woman you have become without him? What if you had not turned out so well? What if its all about a little piece of all of who you are? Is it really worth the trouble? Would you regret it? What if you opened up your heart to him and he crushed it like he did the first time? Oh, how much harder it will be to pick up it's broken pieces then! So you hold up, not willing, not yielding. He is holding out a hand to touch you, to feel you, to look in the eyes of his daughter, to call you his. He wants to play his role or at least try at it for a few more years. He knows he has failed, but he wants to have one more go. You see, he is trying because he is haunted, haunted by his failings, haunted by the mere thoughts another fathered his own daughter, haunted at the thought that he just might never, never ever have the opportunity to hold you, to look into your face, haunted by your smile, that smile, your charm, your beauty, the beauty of his little girl....

So forgive you must. You must open up your heart, for in reality you have nothing to lose. You cannot hold back anymore than you already have, for that in itself has the ability to cause you pain. He has suffered enough, you much more. The time to release yourself and him has come. Free him of the pain, the anguish, the torment. Free him of the regrets, the panic attacks, the tears. You can love him, I know you can. You owe it to yourself and to him to forgive and forgiveness is complete only when we reach out a loving hand. He has hurt you, but that in itself opened up doors you never knew existed. For you see, his hurting you released your wings and caused you to soar.

So open up your heart, sit with him, hold his hands and say thank you.