A Tennessee woman celebrated her birthday with a bittersweet gift from beyond the grave — flowers from her father , who died five years ago, but still managed to make his “baby girl” smile.
Michael William Sellers pre-paid for a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to his daughter, Bailey, every birthday until she turned 21.
And on Friday, Bailey received the beautiful purple bunch, her last from her dad.
“My dad passed away when I was 16 from cancer and before he died he pre-paid flowers so I could receive them every year on my birthday,” the Knoxville woman wrote on Twitter. “Well this is my 21st birthday flowers and the last. Miss you so much daddy.”
Sellers said the gift’s, while special, make birthdays tough.
“Ever since my dad passed away I’ve hated my birthday and I dread it every year because he always made it so special,” Sellers told The Post. “I was especially dreading my 21st because I knew it would be the last year.”
The Eastern Tennessee University student said this year’s gift and birthday card were especially meaningful.
“I broke down,” she said. “That letter was very very awesome and sad all at the same time.”
“This is my last love letter to you until we meet again,” her father wrote. “I do not want you to shed another tear for me my baby girl for I am in a better place.”
He also told her to always respect her mother and stay true to herself.
“Be happy and live life to the fullest,” he wrote. “I will still be with you through every milestone, just look around and there I will be.”
Sellers’ dad was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer just two weeks after Christmas in 2012. He was given two weeks to live and survived for six months until he passed, leaving Sellers, her mom and her three older siblings.
The bubbly psychology student has been posting a picture of her birthday bouquet every year but wasn’t expecting to receive so many emotional reactions to it this year.
Her post has been shared over 180,000 times and liked by over 700,000 people.
“I honestly think that was my dad,” she said. “He was trying to make my birthday spectacular.”
Social media users responded to Sellers’ post, calling it both “heartwarming,” and “heartbreaking.”
Others praised her father, calling him an “example of what a good man is like,” and telling Sellers, “your pops holds the crown.”
“He would be very proud,” Sellers said of her dad. “I don’t even know. He would honestly say it was God, he’d be very proud that it touched a lot of people.”