+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
More

People are tearing up over this powerful letter a dying dad sent his daughter.

Tennessean Bailey Sellers lost her father about five years ago, when she was just 16. Before he passed away, however, he arranged for a very special delivery to come her way every year on her birthday: a bouquet of flowers and a heartfelt letter.

Sellers' flowers arrived, as expected, on Nov. 24, 2017.

Photo courtesy of Bailey Sellers, used with permission.‌

Predictably, it came with a heart-wrenching letter — but this year, the note from her dad packed an especially meaningful punch.

Sellers' father arranged for his letters and flowers to arrive only through her 21st birthday. So this birthday, she received his final gifts.

Photo courtesy of Bailey Sellers, used with permission.‌

"Bailey, this is my last love letter to you until we meet again," her dad began the note, which Sellers shared on Twitter.

His letter continued (emphasis added):

"I do not want you to shed another tear for me my baby girl for I am in a better place. You are and will always be the most precious jewel I was given. It is your 21st birthday, and I want you to always respect your momma and stay true to yourself. Be happy and live life to the fullest. I will still be with you through every milestone, just look around and there I will be. I love you boo boo and happy birthday!!! Daddy"

Along with the flowers and letter, Sellers also shared an old photo of her and her dad from a trip to the beach.

Photo courtesy of Bailey Sellers, used with permission.‌

In the few days since Sellers shared the photos, her post has amassed over 1.5 million likes and over 360,000 retweets.

Its powerful message struck a chord with many people — especially those who've lost a parent as well.

Sellers' dad's letter may be pulling at heartstrings extra hard considering the time of year. The holidays can be tough, after all. Many of us have complicated or strained relationships with family and friends, and — compounded with the stresses of presents, parties, and lots of baking — the true gift of the holidays can get lost in the shuffle.

But Sellers' story shows why it's so important we cherish the ones we have in the short time that we have them.

"Every year I looked forward to my birthday because I felt like [my dad] was still here with me but this is the last year I get them so it's so heart breaking," Sellers wrote in a follow-up tweet in the thread.

"Makes sense, Bailey," a supportive user responded to her. "But I hope you can also see the message he likely intended by stopping [his letters]. He believes in you. He believes that you are capable of wondrous things. He believes YOU are ready to be without the flowers even if you don't know it yet." ❤️

From Your Site Articles
Badge
The Coca-Cola Company
Recycled Records
Sponsored

Spin your own sustainable music with the Recycled Records beat machine

All photos courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company

Behind the Scenes Making Recycled Records with Mark Ronson

True

You’re walking down the sidewalk, earbuds in, listening to your favorite hip-hop beats. As your head bobs to the sounds, the sun warms your back. It’s a perfect day.

When the chorus hits, the empty Sprite bottle in your hand becomes a drumstick, passing traffic becomes a sea of concertgoers, and the concrete beneath your feet is suddenly a stage. Spinning on your heels, you close out the song with your face to the sky and hands in the air.

Keep ReadingShow less
recycling
Joy

Airbnb host wakes his guest up in the middle of the night so she wouldn't miss the northern lights

Best. Host. Ever.

@penslucero/TikTok

Pency Lucero taking in the Northern Lights

Seeing the northern lights is a common bucket list adventure for many people. After all, it ticks a lot of boxes—being a dazzling light show, rich historical experience and scientific phenomenon all rolled into one. Plus there’s the uncertainty of it all, never quite knowing if you’ll witness a vivid streak of otherworldly colors dance across the sky…or simply see an oddly colored cloud. It’s nature’s slot machine, if you will.

Traveler and content creator Pency Lucero was willing to take that gamble. After thorough research, she stumbled upon an Airbnb in Rörbäck, Sweden with an actual picture of the northern lights shining above the cabin in the listing. With that kind of photo evidence, she felt good about her odds.

However, as soon as she landed, snow began falling so hard that the entire sky was “barely visible,” she told Upworthy. Martin, the Airbnb host, was nonetheless determined to do everything he could to ensure his guests got to see the spectacle, even offering to wake Lucero up in the middle of the night if he saw anything.

Then one night, the knock came.

Keep ReadingShow less
nature
Pop Culture

Designer reimagining thrift store displays to show secondhand clothing is 'just as stylish'

The makeover received over 5 million views on TikTok.

@elll.rose/TikTok

Secondhand can be "just as stylish."

Ellie Rose had been walking by the window display of a nearby charity shop (a non-profit thrift store ala Goodwill or Salvation Army) in England when she was struck by an idea: Maybe they could use a “bit of help styling” in order to attract customers.

As a sustainablefashion influencer, the 22-year-old felt like she could infuse her knowledge of today’s trends into the mannequin outfits, hopefully showing people that "buying secondhand can be just as stylish as buying new."

Rose reached out to several different stores offering to help for free, and many accepted. A viral clip posted to her TikTok shows how she worked her fashion magic to give the mannequins a complete makeover. Spoiler alert—it’s a complete 180.

Keep ReadingShow less
thrift shopping
Science

Conjoined twins with fused brains separated; surgeons practiced for months in virtual reality

Arthur and Bernardo finally get to see each other face to face.

Image by sasint/Canva

Surgeons prepared to separate 3-year-old conjoined twins in Brazil using virtual reality.

The things human beings have figured out how to do boggles the mind sometimes, especially in the realm of medicine.

It wasn't terribly long ago that people with a severe injury had to liquor up, bite a stick, have a body part sewn up or sawed off and hope for the best. (Sorry for the visual, but it's true.) The discoveries of antibiotics and anesthesia alone have completely revolutionized human existence, but we've gone well beyond that with what our best surgeons can accomplish.

Surgeries can range from fairly simple to incredibly complex, but few surgeries are more complicated than separating conjoined twins with combined major organs. That's why the recent surgical separation of conjoined twin boys with fused brains in Brazil is so incredible.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Woody Harrelson wrote a hilarious little poem for his viral baby doppelgänger

His response was so wholesome.

@DanielleKGrier/Twitter

Baby Cora bears a striking resemblance to actor Woody Harrelson.

We can all get a little fascinated by doppelgängers and it's fun to find people who look alike. But what do you do when your baby girl looks uncannily like a famous middle-aged man?

Mom Dani Grier Mulvenna shared a photo of her infant daughter Cora side by side with a photo of Woody Harrelson on Twitter, with the caption "Ok but how does our daughter look like Woody Harrelson." The resemblance truly is remarkable, and the tweet quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of likes, shares and replies.

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

Unearthed BBC interview features two Victorian-era women discussing being teens in the 1800s

Frances 'Effy' Jones, one of the first women to be trained to use a typewriter and to take up cycling as a hobby, recalls life as a young working woman in London.

Canva

Two Victorian women discuss being teens in the 1800s.

There remains some mystery around what life was like in the 1800s, especially for teens. Most people alive today were not around in the Victorian era when the technologies now deemed old-fashioned were a novelty. In this rediscovered 1970s clip from the BBC, two elderly women reminisce about what it was like being teenagers during a time when the horse and buggy was still the fastest way to get around.

Keep ReadingShow less
video
Family

Therapist is creating a stir arguing that parents who fight create a toxic home for children

Kids shouldn't have to act like adults.

via Pexels

Parents who just can't stop fighting

Whitney Goodman, a licensed marriage and family therapist, shared a video about kids who grew up in homes where their parents were always fighting, which made many people feel seen. It also started a conversation about who deserves more empathy in the parent-child relationship: the parents or the children.

Goodman is known as the “radically honest” psychotherapist and the author of “Toxic Positivity: Keeping it Real in a World Obsessed with Being Happy.”

"If you grew up in this kind of house, you may have noticed that your family would split off into different alliances or teams to try to manage the material discord. Because the marriage wasn't a good or safe foundation for the family, everybody else had to kind of go and form these new teams,” Goodman explained in an Instagram post.

Keep ReadingShow less
therapists
Trending Stories