a day in the life of Adele

Chapter 26

"Let's go plan a wedding." Simon says, releasing my hand as we get out of the car.

We decided to meet with a wedding planner who would help us put together an intimate, memorable wedding.

I knew part of the planning process would be deciding who to invite. And there was one particular person that I wasn't so sure about inviting.

My father.

+

July 17, 1996

"Mum?" My little 8-year-old self asked.

"Yes, Adele?" She warmly responded.

I watched her start to boil water for her tea.

"Why doesn't daddy live with us?"

At this age, I had started to notice all my friends had dads that lived with them. They didn't go spend a few days with their dad occasionally like I did, rather they saw them every single day.

It didn't bother me, I was just curious for an answer.

My mother didn't respond at first. I noticed pain in her eyes.

"Well," She started, and then stopped. "I'm not sure how to answer that."

I didn't say anything, I just let her think for a few moments. She looked sad, almost heartbroken that I asked.

"Let's go sit down." She said as I followed her to the kitchen table and sat down next to her.

"When you were a little baby, your dad said he had to leave. He wouldn't tell me when he would come back, and I was really sad."

I had no memory of that at all.
It wasn't until years later that I realised my mum would wait until I wasn't in the room with her to cry and be heartbroken. She didn't want me to worry or be sad with her.

"Do you know where he went?" I asked, incredibly confused.

She paused for a few seconds, trying to answer my question in a way that I would understand.

"Your dad loves you very much. But he didn't love me anymore, so he wanted to leave and go find another girlfriend. It happens sometimes, people just stop loving each other. It made me sad because I still loved him, but I couldn't change the way he felt about me." She says, scanning my face to see if I understand.

I understood enough. "So he never came back?"

"No, he never did. But I'm not sad about it anymore. He loves you, I love you. It's just that you only have one parent to live with, instead of both of them, like some of your friends. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just how it is. You still see him, just not as often."

I nodded, understanding what she was saying.

She took my hand and looked into my eyes. "Does it bother you that he doesn't live with us?"

I answered her honestly, because the truth was it really didn't bother me. I didn't know any different. "No, I just wanted to know why he wasn't with us all the time."

She nodded. There was still a slight bit of sadness in her green eyes, but she dismissed it. The tea kettle whistled and she made her mug of tea. She kissed me goodnight, told me she loved me, and I went to bed.

I never thought much about it until years later when I got my heart broken by a guy just like she did. I suddenly understood her pain. Then another few years later, I became a mother myself and I completely understood everything. On top of the heartbreak my mum had, she had to raise a child by herself. That took a massive amount of strength.

Once I had become older, I stopped visiting my dad. It's been several years since I last saw him. He had never met Angelo. I got a card congratulating me a few days after he was born. That was the last contact we had.

+

Other than me losing focus and thinking about my dad a few times, I thought this was a successful day.

We had booked a place for our reception, had a photographer, chosen all the people we wanted in our wedding, sent out invitations (I decided to just send my dad one, even though I knew he wouldn't come, but at least I reached out to him), among many other details, and we had a date.

December 21, 2016.

We would get married at the spot that Simon took me to a few weeks ago where there was a breathtaking view of London. It would be chilly, but we wanted to have it around Christmas time because then our families would be with us for the holidays.

The reception would be at an incredible place right in the city, and to end the night, we would all go on the London Eye. It was everything I wanted, and I couldn't imagine how perfect it would be when it finally happened, two months from now.

On the way home that evening, I couldn't stop myself from getting emotional.

I kept thinking about my mum, and how I was so grateful to her for everything she did to raise me. She probably wanted to get married, but she didn't let that get to her and prevent her from giving me the best life possible. She was so strong, and she made sure that I never saw her get upset, because she knew it would worry me.

I was so glad that she would see me get married, because it would mean her selflessness and hard work certainly paid off.