“Why did he never tell me about you?”
Arthur was quiet for a moment.
“Because in his final years, most of his letters were about you.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
Robert had written that I had forgotten myself throughout my life.
That I had always lived for other people.
The children.
The grandchildren.
The family.
And that one of my biggest dreams had always been to travel.
“He wrote that he was afraid that after he died, you would spend the rest of your life waiting for someone else’s permission to live,” Arthur said.
After hearing those words, I finally opened the envelope.
Robert’s letter was four pages long.
I began to read.
“Abigail,
If you’re reading this in Australia, it means you finally made it to the place we talked about for so many years.
If I’m not there with you, don’t turn this trip into a memorial for me.
Do it for yourself.
See what you want to see.
Eat what you want to try.
Stay where you are happy.
And leave places you don’t want to stay.
Don’t explain to anyone why you’re spending money on yourself.”
Tears were already running down my face.
Then I reached a passage that made me stop.
“The children love you.
But don’t let loving them become the reason you never live for yourself.
My biggest regret is not that I didn’t make it to retirement.
It’s that I spent years saying ‘someday’ with you.
Life does not always wait for us.”
I covered my mouth with my hand.
By the time I read the final paragraph, I was crying and smiling at the same time.
“I asked Arthur to keep this letter.
Australia was the place where, as a young man, I first felt that my life belonged to me.
Maybe it will do the same for you.
And if Arthur is still alive, make him finally pay for the coffee.
He still owes me twelve dollars.”
I laughed out loud through my tears.
Arthur smiled too.
“I was hoping he hadn’t written that part.”
We talked for hours that day.
Arthur told me stories from Robert’s youth that I had never heard.
How he once fell asleep during a concert.
How he got lost but kept insisting he knew exactly where he was going.
