Richard Johnson just wanted to be a normal father in a normal family. But only one month after his daughter was born her mother vanished with the baby to California.
She then changed her mind, telling Richard that if he didn’t come to get the baby, she’d put her up for adoption. He couldn’t bare the thought of this, so went straight there to pick up the child. Richard admitted to being very scared about being a single father and felt daunted about the prospect of fulfilling both parental roles.
He hunted around for help on the internet and stumbled upon a website called ‘Life of Dad’. It’s content helped him through those tough early months and he wrote a letter to the pages founder to say thank you. Since Tuesday, the post has had over 15,000 likes, and more than 800 supportive comments.
All of the comments have been beautiful!
“Not only do you sound like a great father, but also a compassionate person,” wrote one woman. “It probably hasn’t been easy for you, but I think you deserve extra props for speaking like a true father & man on behalf of your daughter’s situation/relationship with her mother.”
Another added: “You sound like a very positive person, your baby is lucky to have a dad like you. [sic]”
In a recent interview with Yahoo parenting he said “At first, when I was alone, I was so depressed that I didn’t want to see a bunch of happy couples with their kids. But as I came out of that, I was checking Life of Dad and saw there were other single dads out there. There’s such a terrible stereotype of deadbeat dads, but I know that’s not always the case. Sometimes people are dealt a terrible hand, and it’s inspirational to read their stories.”
"Now I look forward to every day because it’s so incredible to see her,” he said. “She smiles when I look at her. She’s my best friend and my little shadow. I talk to her about everything – I know she doesn’t completely understand what I’m saying, but one day she will…”
