Seattle, USA

I deleted my daughter’s childhood videos during an argument with my ex-wife

Dear Delyara, During our divorce, my ex-wife and I fought over everything, including digital files. One night, furious because she had removed photographs from a shared drive, I deleted a folder I believed contained copies of videos she already had. It included the only recordings from our daughter’s first two years. My ex did not have copies. Data recovery failed. Our daughter is nineteen now and learned about it last month. She did not shout. She just asked, “So there’s nothing of me learning to walk?” There are photographs. Not videos. I said I was sorry. She said, “Okay.” That quiet answer was worse. I was so consumed by winning an argument with her mother that I destroyed something belonging to a child who was not part of the fight. My ex has forgiven me more than my own mind has. Occasionally, relatives find old clips on forgotten phones, and every recovered ten-second video feels like someone returning a piece of property I burned down in anger.