Santa,
I’ve tried to be a good boy this year. I have a very simple request for Christmas–can I just have Lauren Elizabeth Kelley please? I know she’s not perfect, but I do love her very much. I think she’s beautiful, smart and funny. I know she’s the one I was told to look for 11 years ago. I promise I’ll take good care of her and love her for the rest of my life.
I know she’s not healthy right now and that she needs help, but I’m willing to help her get better. I will walk by her side to help her along the long road to recovery if she asks me to. I would be honored to be the one to wipe her tears when she cries, pick her up when she falls, support her when she stumbles or falters, protect her when she feels frightened or threatened, guide her when she is lost or confused and most of all, love her more each and every day.
I would point out that I have a lot of experience doing this, as I have been her friend, guide, protector, and confidante for much of her life and I have loved her in some form for all of her life. I have cared for her and her family for over 30 years now, and never stopped, even when they don’t recognize our friendship and when their actions haven’t merited it. Her mother Sue’s last text to me was, “Danny, I know that you will always be here for us.”, and I have been for over 30 years.
I know Lauren Elizabeth Kelley loves me because she told me so in two different languages dozens of times during the brief week we were talking about our future together earlier last year. If Lauren Elizabeth Kelley hadn’t told me that–if I didn’t know how much she loves me–I would have walked away from her because there would be no reason for me to stay and no commitment between us.
However, I do have a commitment to Lauren Elizabeth Kelley because she does love me. I think we deserve a chance to explore that possible future with kids that are Asians with freckles, and all the other things we discussed. I have the claddagh ring I bought for her right here—waiting for her to accept it as I believe she was going to when she asked to see it on June 28th, before I confronted her about her drinking.
Lauren Elizabeth Kelley’s illness is not a reason to throw away that future. I know she is smart enough, strong enough and brave enough to fight her illness and get better, once she realizes that she is ill. But, until she realizes that she has a problem with alcohol and drugs, there is nothing I can do to help her. So, Santa, please make her realize she has a problem and ask me for my help in getting better, so we can get on with the future we were talking about.
If you can, show my beautiful and beloved Lauren Elizabeth Kelley how much I love her and that I still want to spend the rest of our lives together. I hope I see Lauren Elizabeth Kelley again soon. However, given how Lauren Elizabeth Kelley has fallen to her addictions, I doubt I will ever see the amazing woman I love—the strong, smart, beautiful, honest, compassionate and lovable woman that loves me—ever again.
Dan
God Bless you Lauren Elizabeth.
May God watch over you and protect you from all harm—even that you cause yourself.
I hope God gives you the strength to fight your addictions and the wisdom to see the truth about what the alcohol and drugs are doing to you.
I pray that God grants you the serenity and peace you will need to love yourself once again and to forgive yourself for the things your addictions have made you do.
I ask that God helps you find your way back to being the amazing, beautiful, intelligent, feisty, stubborn, strong, and devout woman He wants you to be.
Finally, may He grant you the ability to see yourself as I do and let you remember who we are to each other; let you remember the years of friendship, love and devotion we once shared; and give you the strength to make amends so we can start the future together we talked about last June.
All this in Jesus’s name I pray.
Amen.