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Haley's Story - A True Story - page 2
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BACKGROUND Haley lived with me, her father, about 50 percent of the time, ever since she was 10 months old. While Haley was in my care, I had the role of mother and father. Along with being a single dad, came a tremendous amount of responsibility. It was a responsibility I greatly enjoyed. I cooked for her, washed her clothes and took care of Haley when she was sick. When Haley got the chicken pox, I got the chicken pox. All of my time was devoted to Haley. It was the greatest time of my life. Never once did I ever have to scold Haley, disciplining only with patience and love. At the time of my divorce, my former wife's income was $150.000.00 + per year. I was at the poverty level. I even signed away the house to my former wife in divorce, which had $175.000.00 of equity in it. All I wanted was Haley. All my former wife ever cared about was money. Ironically, she was senior vice president of finance at Cost Effective Health Care, d/b/a National Recovery Institute (N.R.I.), a for profit substance abuse center which was closed down for 7.7 million dollars in insurance fraud in the mid 90's. No one was ever prosecuted in that case even though I turned over a memo to the Florida Attorney General's Office that was signed from the CFO of N.R.I. and stated that my former wife was the person responsible for instructing the staff to change billing codes. The reason given was; "Failure to investigate". My former wife was worth millions at the time she killed Haley. In 1997, when I was going through an extremely rough time financially, my former wife offered to help me out financially. She offered to buy my parental rights for $10,000.00. Even though I was facing eviction, I told her that my daughter was not for sale at any price. When Haley was with me, I had all the riches a person could possibly want. Haley was my best friend, my whole world and I loved her more than life itself. From helping her with her homework to picnic dinners on the beach, we were inseparable. I gave Haley what every child desires more than anything else, unconditional love and time. Haley was the meaning of life for me and it was ever so clear from the day she was born. Whenever I picked my daughter up at my former wife's house, my former wife would scream at me using every obscenity imaginable...constantly berating me in front of my daughter, for no reason at all. I never yelled back and simply ignored her. So one day, when Haley was around 3 1/2 years old, as we were driving back from her mother's house. Haley asked me; "Daddy, how come you don't yell back at mommy when she yells at you?". I pulled the car over to the side of the road, turned my head to look into Haley's eyes and said; "Haley, I don't yell back at your mommy because two wrongs don't make a right". Haley smiled from ear to ear and said: "Daddy, I love you". Haley was wise beyond her years. That is how I raised my daughter and it showed. Not only did I volunteer as a chaperon on Haley's field trips in school, but I volunteered in her school one hour a day and had lunch with Haley in the courtyard at school on the days she was staying with her mother. I missed Haley very much when she was with her mother. (My former wife even went into the school to complain about the fact that I was volunteering. She was trying anything she could to keep me from my daughter.) To know Haley was to love Haley. At 8 years old, she was the sweetest, most caring person one could possibly be. She was kind to everyone she would meet, wanting to help the needy and always sensitive to other peoples feelings. The room would light up when Haley walked in. It was as if a butterfly just landed upon your shoulder. Her love for nature captured your attention. Haley was in the true sense of the word, a humanitarian. She loved to learn. With an I.Q. of 139, Haley was in the gifted program at school. Haley's achievements not only included making the honor roll all the time, but she was an accomplished dancer as well. From the first day in dance class, Haley was in love with dance. Although I couldn't afford it at the time, I sold personal property in order for Haley to attend 4 dance classes a week, including a private lesson every other week. Haley's dance teacher taught with love. I loved to stay and watch Haley in each class. She was awesome. Sometimes she would like to stay for the next class to help her dance instructor with the little ones (younger children). When Haley was only 7 years old, she performed a solo at her dance recital in front of 850 people. With everyone's attention drawn to center stage, Haley's act started out with a cartwheel, into a round off landing and then proceeded to perform 3 back handsprings with perfect precision. Haley will dance in my heart forever and there will never come a day where I don't think of her. I miss her dearly.
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