Post Tugs Heart of Any Dad Who Ever Left a Daughter at College

This is the photo Anh Trinh’s father snapped and posted on Facebook. It has been “liked” tens of thousands of times and shared around the world. (Photo via Humans of New York Facebook page)

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Grab a tissue.

You’re going to need it if you’re like – at last count – the nearly 260,000 people who liked, more than 4,600 who shared and who knows how many who talked over the water cooler about a viral Facebook post written by a dad who left his only daughter at a college halfway around the world in Michigan.

And if you’re like Hope College freshman Anh Trinh, and you buried yourself under blankets and cried as your daddy’s shadow disappeared down the long hallway to your dorm room on that pivotal first day alone, your waterworks will probably flow, too.

With the power of anonymity – Anh Trinh’s dad isn’t named, and his post on the Humans of New York Facebook page has a Hanoi, Vietnam dateline – the post strikes a universal chord with parents trying to reconcile their hearts and heads with the brave face they’re wearing, and young adult children trying to mask the pangs of homesickness already settling in.

“She’s our only child,” Dad wrote. “She started college in Michigan this year. I took this photo on the day that I dropped her off at school. The morning I left, I walked into her dorm room, and saw a bundle under the covers. I said:

“ ‘Sweetie, do you want to say bye to your dad?’ Then I saw that the bundle was shaking. I pulled back the covers, and her eyes were filled with tears. My heart was melting when I left. These days I stay at the office as long as possible, because my wife works late, and I don’t want to be at home with no one there.”

As the post went viral, students at Hope College in Holland began connecting the dots and reached out to Trinh to make sure she was adjusting, MLive/The Grand Rapids Press reports.

“Right away, as soon as it came out, people started connecting with one another to make sure that she was being taken care of and that she felt supported,” Jennifer Fellinger, a spokeswoman for the college, said. “Everybody experiences that homesickness to some degree, but I think people wanted to reach out.”

Folks are also working their magic on social media, too – connecting, networking and empathizing with support and advice, reassuring Dad and daughter.

“I’m a mom in Michigan,” wrote Rae Equality Nunyabiz. “If you ever need another parent to check in on your daughter, or if she needs help and someone safe to reach out to, you just let me know. We ALL need to be looking out for each other’s kids, because they will determine the future for ALL of our children.”

“We live in Michigan, a mile away from the University of Michigan,” Michelle Desjarlais Groe posted. “We’d love to provide her with a home if she needs anything. And my daughter’s middle name is Hope, just like on your daughter’s pant leg. If she is going to Hope College, we know people there, too. There are people who will take her into their homes and hearts and love her!”

“As an international student studying in the States myself, I know how this feels. saying goodbye to your parents is the hardest, especially when home is so far away,” Sheany Yasuko Tajima wrote. “Whenever I call my mom, she always tells me how alone she feels without me there with her. There’s a part of me who always feels guilty for being so far away, and yet I can only work hard and hope that studying here will give me the opportunity to be a better person and eventually find success, all for my beloved mother.”

“Saying goodbye on my first day of college was so hard and I just moved to the other side of the same country,” Elizabeth Valentine wrote. “Mad props to this very brave young woman.”

And so it goes.

Tell Us:

• How did you cope with being away from home for the first time, or with sending your kids off to college? Any tips to make the transition easier?