Daughter stunned after finding out her dad still has the diorama she made 23 years ago

There’s something uniquely heartwarming about the imperfect, heartfelt gifts kids create for their loved ones. These messy, mismatched creations may not win design awards, but they shine with the purest form of love. Reddit user u/Ayen_C recently shared a nostalgic snapshot of a childhood gift she had made for her dad 23 years ago. Her dad, a private pilot, had held onto the handmade diorama—a testament to the deep bond they share.

The diorama, crafted when she was just 10 years old, featured an airplane lovingly labeled “Papa,” surrounded by mismatched clouds, sparse “grass,” and other playful elements, all assembled in a tissue box. While its design was raw and imperfect, the gift clearly meant the world to her father, who kept it safely all these years. “My dad is a private pilot. I’m visiting them in my hometown right now, and my dad showed me this diorama I made 23 years ago of his airplane when I was 10 years old. He still has it, I guess!” she captioned the post.

The side of the box still bore the date written in her childhood handwriting: “05/20/01.” As raw and untidy as it seemed, this sentimental keepsake was everything to her dad, considering he had held onto it for 23 long years. It’s a sweet reminder that the most cherished possessions are often the ones that come straight from the heart.

People were filled with awe and commented on the dad’s gesture. With over 3.7k upvotes, many people were stressing that the dad undoubtedly had immense love for his child to have preserved the diorama intact for a long time. u/TYdays said, “When you receive a gift that is special, you hold on to it, your Dad did.” Many fellow parents related to the dad’s gesture of retaining the special gift. u/pawpaw69420 said, “I keep everything my daughter makes me. One day, she’ll stop giving me stuff and I want as much as I can get.” u/saint-aryll said, “This is sweet. It looks delicate too and the fact that it’s in such good condition for its age shows you how much he cherished it. Give that man a big old hug!”

Several people even shared their stories. u/robo-dragon said, “That’s adorable! My dad still has some of the things I made him, including a handmade birthday card I made when I was three. You can barely read it, but the scribbles and kiddy drawings of me with my dad still meant enough to him to keep it in his office for nearly thirty years now.” u/Aggressive-Ground-32 said, “My daughter made me a container with a monkey head on it when she was in preschool, she turns 20 in a month. I still have it on display in my home. I call it my monkey bucket.” u/puppersnme said, “This reminds me of my own dad, who was a kind, sentimental man devoted to his family. Going through his things after he died was one surprise after another.”

This article originally appeared 8 months ago.