My dad never said "I love you." After he died, I found 11 years of voicemails he never deleted.

I'm 31. My dad passed away three weeks ago. I'm writing this at 2 AM because I can't sleep, and because I need to tell someone. My dad was not an emotional man. He was a truck driver. He left home at 4 AM and came back late. He never hugged me at my graduation. He just shook my hand and said, "Good job." I remember being angry about that for years. When I moved to another city for work, we talked maybe once a month. Short calls. "Eat properly. Don't skip meals." That was it. I used to think, doesn't he have anything else to say to me? Last month, he got sick. It was quick. I reached the hospital too late. I only got to see him for ten minutes before he went. After the funeral, I was cleaning his room. In the drawer next to his bed, I found his old phone. The kind with buttons. I charged it, just to see. It had 214 saved voicemails. All of them were mine. Every missed call I ever left him. Every "Papa, call me back." Every "Happy birthday, Papa, sorry I'm busy." He had saved all of them. Eleven years of my voice. And then I found a folder of recordings he made himself. I pressed play on the first one. It was his voice, shaky, speaking slowly. "Beta, I'm practicing. The doctor says I should say things out loud. I never learned how. So I'll say it here, and one day maybe I'll say it to you." Then a long pause. "I'm proud of you. I was proud of you at your graduation. I just didn't know how to say it, so I shook your hand. I'm sorry, beta. I should have hugged you." I dropped to the floor. There were 30 recordings. Some were just him saying "I love you, beta" again and again, like he was trying to get the words right. The last one was dated one week before he died. "Today I'll call him and say it. I'm nervous. Silly, no? A grown man scared of three words." He never made that call. But I played that recording on the very bench outside the hospital where I got to see him last. And for the first time in my life, I said it back. "I love you too, Papa." submitted by /u/shahroz_aslam_ [link] [comments]

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So my wife’s going to a gala tonight — as her client’s “date.”

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Update- My fiance’s “vows disaster” just hit rehearsal day & it got worse

For context- my fiance accidentally sent our officiant his draft vows, the one full of placeholders like “insert emotional stuff here” and “make her cry but not ugly cry”? Yeahhh. He promised he fixed them. But he did not. At the rehearsal, the officiant asked if he wanted to do a practice run. My man confidently steps up, opens his phone & starts reading the exact same draft. He gets halfway through “insert heartfelt memory here” before realizing, mid-sentence - what’s happening. The entire wedding party is trying not to lose it. Our officiant just sighed and said, “Well, at least you’re honest.” He is now rewriting his vows under supervision like it’s a school detention. The bridesmaids made him a folder titled “FINAL FINAL vows - DO NOT SCREW UP.docx.” If the ceremony goes anything like this rehearsal, I might livestream it for educational purposes. (And yes, I posted the original chaos on r/WeddingJokes — I feel like I owe them an update at this point)

The time I quit my job mid shift and walked out

Eight years ago I was working a customer service job that already had me burned out but one day my boss screamed at me in front of customers over something that wasn’t even my fault. Something in me just snapped. I took off my apron handed it to him and said “I’m done” Then I walked straight out the door and never looked back. Didn’t even go back for my final paycheck. It sounds impulsive but it was one of the most freeing empowering things I’ve ever done. Up until that moment I thought I had to just take it and that quitting mid shift was “unprofessional” But honestly that day taught me there’s a line between being dedicated and being disrespected. I was playing apex earlier and thought about how that single decision changed my whole mindset about self worth. It’s wild how one moment of courage can stick with you for nearly a decade. Still one of the best choices I’ve ever made.

Bimql chhetry.

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