Canada Free Press -- ARCHIVES

Because without America, there is no free world.

Return to Canada Free Press

EDITOR'S DESK

Missing!

by Judi McLeod

January 6, 2003

As a newspaper person all of my life, I cannot help but be familiar with advertising.

But the ad my friend Bill sent off to the Victoria Times this week, is the most heartfetching I’ve ever seen.

Bill has a lot of hope for the ad, which is really a message from the soul to his missing son, and I had not the heart to tell him not to put too much faith in the ad ever reaching its intended recipient.

MISSING!

YOU

My dearest Christopher, since you moved to Victoria BC, there has been an emptiness in my life that words will never explain. You are in my thoughts and in my heart every moment, of every day. I love you. Your entire family loves you and misses you. Every day I hope and pray that one-day, we will be together again. Until that time, I pray that God will keep you safe.

Love, Daddy

 

Christopher, you see, is only four years old. No matter how heartfelt, Bill cannot count on the adults in Christopher’s life to tell him about the message in the newspaper sent by his daddy. Bill’s ex-wife took the little boy out of jurisdiction some eight months ago. His downhearted father hasn’t seen or heard a word about him since last April.

Bill’s story is the story of so many, but that does nothing to ease his pain. It’s the story that comes from a politically correct Canadian court system that all but excludes fathers as custody parents or even parents with access to their own children.

Until last April, Bill was a big part of Christopher’s life. In capsule form, Bill was following the letter of the law just to have court-provided access to his son, honoured. His ex-wife, who always wanted to return to British Columbia, the province where she was brought up, one day, out of the blue, and unbeknownst to Bill, struck down his pleadings and took Christopher away, leaving only a terse note.

Even though Bill was told by lawyers and a judge familiar with the entire case that his chances of getting his little boy back were excellent, he was forced back to the drawing board, having been financially depleted by long family court battles over access.

The parents of the ex-wife are happy to have their daughter and grandson under their roof in faraway Victoria. All telephone callers, no matter how polite and pleading, just wanting to hear the news that Christopher is doing all right, have been spurned.

Indeed, there was no other way for Bill to get a message of love to his son without the Victoria Times.

The young father is hoping against hope that somehow someone will be able to give him the message that Christopher is okay. As the long days dwindle by, he’s become desperate to have the little boy know how loved he is.

Desperate to hear anything, he is holding on to the hope that someone will email him.

There is, of course, no consoling Bill on the topic of the long missing Christopher.

The ex and her family seem to be holding all of the cards.

But even if the family is in complete control, time is something no one controls.

Nobody can predict the future. Yet, nobody can deny the message sent out to B.C. That message exists and is as real as the heartbroken father who sent it.

No one knows what Chrstopher is being told about his father. Does he remember the times `fishing’ in the bathtub with daddy, going hand in hand with him, both dressed as dinosaurs on last Halloween? Does he wonder even where daddy is and why he’s no longer in his life?

His B.C. family can keep the message away from Christopher now.

But someday when he’s old enough to understand the message sent by his dad in January of 2003, nobody--no matter how determined--will be able to keep father and son apart.

Meanwhile, God speed Bill’s message to Christopher.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2018 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2018 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement