This graduate went viral after sharing an emotional, 17-year-old note from her father
Get a box of tissues ready – it’s beautiful.
A girl has gone viral after sharing a handwritten note her Mexican father penned 17 years before her graduation.
Gabby Alfaro, 23, graduated from the University of California with a masters in education and teaching on Saturday. On that day she posted a note her father Carlos had written for an assignment while taking night classes in English 17 years before.
The note reads: “It is amazing how fast some kids can learn the things we teach them,” Carlos’ note reads. “I have a daughter who just turn 6 years old, my wife and I used to read her books since she was 2 years old, now that she is in Kindergarden, her teacher said that it’s hard to believe how good she can read and spell.
“That’s one of the reason why I decided to go back to school. I want to be able to help her do the homework and show her that the only way to make her dreams come true is through education.”
Although Gabby’s mother found the note in their garage only a few months before her graduation, it seems she more than made good on the sentiment.
Gabby has been hired to teach in the San Bernardino city school district – becoming an educator herself.
“When my mom showed my sisters and I, we all bawled our eyes out, and I kept the notebook,” Gabby, who has four sisters, told the Press Association.
“It actually worked out perfectly that the day of my ceremony was the same weekend as Father’s Day – so the tweet was my surprise to him so he could see how his hard work and love paid off.”
Gabby said her mother called her father when it rose in popularity – it now has over 140,000 likes on Twitter – “to tell him he was getting famous”, but she hasn’t been able to show him the positive reactions it has had as they have both been working.
“I’m sure he’ll be a little embarrassed,” said Gabby. “My dad is very quiet with his emotions, typical Mexican dad, which made finding his writing even more surprising.
“He’s always told my sisters and I how proud of us he is though. That’s his ‘I love you’.”
