My firstborn daughter is creeping ever closer to the age where she's gonna ask me about her biological dad in a much more grown up way

She'll be ten in April. She knows that my husband is not her biological father. We started dating when she was almost three and he legally adopted her last summer. It's not some secret. She remembers him showing up in her life and knows that he wasn't there when she was born.When she was a toddler, she asked all the time why she didn't have a dad. She hasn't asked me a question like that in almost seven years. But I feel like the day is inevitable when she asks me about her biological dad in a much more grown up way than a toddler wondering why she doesn't have a dad. She's going to ask from the perspective of someone who understands how babies are made.Here's the real story: I was 20 and a wild child. I would constantly drink and sometimes do cocaine/ecstasy and routinely hook up with random strangers. One night in the summer of 2009 I picked the first guy who agreed to come home with me at the bar, took him home, and about a month later was told by a doctor that I was pregnant.I know who the guy is. I told him I was pregnant with his child. And I never heard from him again after that. He ran. He has never met the child he fathered. I have no idea where he is today. I can't find any social media activity for him after the fall of 2012. For all I know he's been dead this whole time.I left the alcohol/drug crazed lifestyle in the past the minute I found out I was pregnant. Now I'm in my early 30's and have developed a healthy relationship with responsibility and a much more genuine faith in God. I'm ashamed of a lot of the behavior that led up to it, but I don't regret it at all, because my daughter saved my life, and her birth set into motion the chain of events that led me to meeting my husband, the man of my dreams, who has since fathered my second daughter and adopted my first.My question is, for parents who have had to explain something like this to their kid: How much detail did you go into? How old was your kid when they asked? I know it's coming some day. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2wMoBCq