Divorced father left overwhelmed after finding a letter from his 7-year-old daughter

Divorce can be difficult for a couple, but it takes a toll on children who have to start dividing their time between parents who share custody from an early age. But despite all that, a 7-year-old girl from Massachusetts left her father overwhelmed with a sweet early Father's Day gift that she left him before heading to her mom's house for a week.

38-year-old dad Shane Nadeau currently shares custody of his young daughter Isabella with his ex-wife. "It's just me and her that live together here in Charlton," Nadeau told Newsweek. "She lives with her mother on alternating weeks." The co-parenting arrangement seems to be going smoothly for Nadeau and his family and it's proved from the lovely note Isabella had written for him. In a card with crooked handwriting and a whole lot of squiggly doodles, Isabella thanked her father for being the "best dad she could wish for."

Nadeau hopped onto his Reddit handle u/Frantik508 and posted the card and message that Isabella had written for him. "Found this in my 8-year-old's backpack on Sunday before she went to her mom's for the week. This makes me very proud that I'm doing something right as a parent," Nadeau wrote alongside the slideshow. "I love you so much and thank you for taking care of me," Isabella had written in the note. "I love all the memories that we make and it gets better and better." The little girl also thanked her father for "taking care of her."

The note left users emotional and u/Enigma-exe wrote, "Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. My 6-year-old made me something similar before she went back to her mum's last week as well. You can't buy that or demand it. That's blood, sweat and tears. And a lot of love." u/TheREPR commented, "Wow, just wow. This genuinely made me tear up, and I am so happy that you two share such a beautiful bond. You’re doing a wonderful job. Keep it up!" u/OliverEntrails joked, "That's a fridge keeper for sure. Make copies for the day it disintegrates or is lost in a move. (I'd frame it somehow). My first thought in the second picture is that your grass needs to be mowed." u/drenyam added, "Nothing tugs on the heartstrings quite like these hidden gems of being a parent. It’s happy when you are the recipient and heartbreaking to know that not all receive such an honor."

Talking to Newsweek, Nadeau also mentioned that he often asks himself if he is doing a good job as a parent. "I think every struggling parent occasionally asks themselves, 'Does my kid appreciate and understand everything I do for them?' This card was sort of a pat on the back, telling me 'You're doing just fine. She's happy,'" he said. Nadeau added that he is used to his daughter surprising him from time to time. "She's very thoughtful of other people's feelings," he continued. "One time, I told her about a cat I had before she was born, named Smudge, that ran away. The next day, she gave me a card with a picture of a cat, saying, 'Sorry for Smudge.'"