But they had noticed.
They knew about opportunities he had declined.
They knew about the house he never purchased and the vacations he postponed.
They remembered how he put their needs ahead of his own without making them feel guilty.
Most importantly, they remembered that he stayed.
When they were frightened, he stayed.
When they were difficult teenagers, he stayed.
When money was tight, he stayed.
When raising them became exhausting, he stayed.
The girls told him that family was not simply the people who gave you life.
Sometimes family was the person who remained when life became difficult.
Noah continued reading until his vision blurred.
They told him he had not merely raised three nieces.
He had helped raise three women capable of loving, working, forgiving, and standing on their own.
Whatever they accomplished next, they wrote, part of it would always belong to him.
Finally came the line that Noah could barely read:
