The Eldest Daughter

While I am working my way through my dad's notes and crazy drawings on maps of the UK I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself and give you a little more inside information into the man I am proud to call, Dad.

So we'll start at the beginning, my name is Stacey. Nice to meet you all! I am the eldest daughter of Rich Long, the crazy man walking the British Isles. I am a 23 year old Support Worker from Gloucestershire. I went to university in Aberystwyth, a place dad has passed recently. I am the eldest of dad's three daughters, my sisters are off at university (last year!) at the moment which is why this great responsibility falls upon myself and to be honest with you I love writing blogs, I have tried many times over the years but all kinds of things seemed to get in the way, ah well! I am here now so let's keep this up.

I wish that I could say I always knew everything about me dad, but who truly knows everything about another person? No matter how close you think you are to them. The way I see it, whether you are spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, sibling, daughter, son, mother, father, there is always some detail, be it little or big, that you don't know about that person. My dad and I have always been very close (much too alike I say!) so I hope that I can say I know him pretty well. However, many things have come to light this past year that I didn't know about my dad. My dad spent a good chunk of his life hiding his troubles and illnesses just so that we, his kids, didn't see it. Who wants to show that side of yourself to your children really? As you all know my dad suffers from PTSD, something I will write about in detail next week. This is not a nice thing to see as a child, or as an adult for that matter. I did not find out about this until the beginning of last year, in a way I am happy that he waited until I was old enough to completely understand. But that's just me.

You may be wondering at this point; "Aren't you mad that he was never honest about this with you?" and my answer would be no, of course not. How I can possibly be mad at him for trying to protect me? I was a typical teenage drama queen and was going through my own crap, I am fairly sure I wouldn't have been able to deal with his as well. I appreciate that, I will always appreciate that. However, I am so happy that he told me, even if it did take him a long time, because now I am in a position to help him. Even if its only by writing this blog and supporting him.

My dad is a good man, the best man (don't tell him I said that ;)). Don't all daughters say that though? I remember when I started living with my boyfriend about 2 years ago and he said to me "Don't forget that I will always be the most important man in your life!" with a very serious face which I, of course, couldn't help laughing at. But he is right, Dad will always be the only solid man in my life. As much as you don't want to think about it when you are in a committed relationship there is always the chance that something with go wrong. At that point it is your dad that is there, at least, I know mine will be, even if he is half way across the county scaling a mountain he would do everything he could to make sure he got back to me, the same goes for my sisters.

That's just the kind of man my Dad is.