Background

My Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016 right before I turned 25. He passed away just a year later at the end of 2017. Navigating his diagnosis, my first official degree-earned job, his passing, and then the caregiver role I assumed over my grandparents, "Dear Dad" started off as a daily journal. Entries were written in the form of daily letters (3-10 lines) to my Dad to help me navigate my new roles and responsibilities without wanting to be a burden to him and then eventually in lieu of his guidance.

Years later I re-read those entries and realized that when viewed from above they told a story I think many young adults can relate to — trying to live by the values instilled in you as a child while navigating the working world and life events that turn your world view upside down. By reading each entry, you can see the progression of a young woman who is torn between her responsibility to her work and her responsibility to her family. Starting with entries that end with "I love you Dad" to entries that end with "I miss you Dad" to the final entry that ends with "Thank you Dad", the book has become my own coming of age story and details the journey I took to merge the emotional purpose I found in family with the ethical drive I find in work.

Format

Using my Dad's Remington typewriter, "Dear Dad" was typed up on manilla paper and then bound through paper fasteners that harkened back to his time as an office-worker for the International Paper Company. Within the book, each chapter represents a year starting with 2016 through to 2019. Month headlines provide section breaks within chapters and for months where no entries were created, the section headers run back to back to show the progression of time. These breaks help illustrate moments where time passes as well as create moments where silence is needed.

Although family members are named to help highlight connections, friends and co-workers were given acronymns so as not to invade their privacy and so as to help the reader project themself as the main character. To help with pacing and narrative not all journal entries were kept in the final draft. The ones included were the ones that pertained most to processing the working world, grief, and the responsibility of being a caregiver. The book in total is 20 pages long.