At 62, for the first time I decided to go on vacation alone, without my children. But when my daughter got this photo taken on the beach, she started screaming, “MOM, IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THIS MAN! YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER!”

• Mom, you always thought that in the last months of life, my father was worried only because of his illness.
• Yeah.
• But he was tormented by something else.

Sarah wiped her tears.

• Dad knew you were unhappy.

I looked at my daughter in astonished.

• What are you talking about?
• You didn’t go to the beach for years, you avoided photos and family meetings. She kept saying she was too fat and no one would want to see you like that.

The memories of one after another began to return.

One day, Thomas asked us to go to Hawaii together.

I refused.

Another time, the kids invited us to a family photo shoot.

I refused again.

I always said I’d take a picture when I lost weight.

But this day never came.