You will never know the mess you made when you left. On the surface, she looks as though she is doing well; she focused on her education and managed to finally get what one would consider a decent job, a job which afforded her the opportunity not only to renovate the house you left, but also to purchase another, a job which allowed her to travel the world, something you were unable to do. But emotionally, she is weak, emotionally she suffered. Even 16 years later at age 40, she still cries herself to sleep pining after the memory of you. She hadn’t yet ‘settled down’ nor did she have any children and the thought of these two societal norms was far from her mind. She was afraid of commitment to the point where even the mortgage scared her and surely the idea of investing her time and effort into one person, only to have them leave like you did was not something she was keen on entertaining. In part, this was due to genetics but it was largely a result of your abandonment. You should have stayed longer, you should have imparted wisdom and life lessons so that life could have been so different for her. She would be happier, more financially stable and most importantly, not an emotional wreck. But instead you left, leaving her to fend for herself, flailing hopelessly and helplessly trying to do her level best but always seemingly coming up short. You left a void and nothing with which to fill it. But thankfully, she possesses resilience and tenacity and a constant longing to unearth the reason behind your abandonment in hopes that it somehow wasn’t all for naught. A longing that she will soon discover that there is purpose to the misery she has suffered over the years and that her eudemonia is soon within her grasp.