Wives
“Every visitor comes through the door and heads straight for the baby. I understand why. But I want you to know I still see you first.”
“I stopped counting the candles on your cake a long time ago. All I count now is how lucky I am to spend another year beside you.”
“I have been distracted lately, and you felt it every day. I am sorry. You should never have to compete with my phone or my work.”
“Sorry is easy to say, so I want to show you instead, every day. You will see it in how I listen, how I help and how I show up.”
“I will take the next feeding, the next diaper and the next load of laundry. You have done the hardest part, and now it is my turn to carry more.”
“When you blow out your candles tonight, I will be making a wish too. I will wish for many more birthdays just like this one, right beside you.”
“If I could go back to our wedding day, I would not change a thing. Except maybe my dancing. Everything else was perfect.”
“If I could go back to our wedding day, I would say I do even louder. Every year with you has given me one more reason to mean it.”
“Before there was a family, there was you and me and a lot of big dreams. Look at what you have built. Every good thing in this house started with you.”
“We have lived in a few places, and every one of them felt like home. It was never the address. It was always you.”
“I have started noticing the things that only get done because you do them. The birthdays. The dentist. The card for my own father, every march, in your hand.”
“I have always known you were strong, but this year I saw just how strong. You faced every hard day with courage, and you never stopped being kind.”
“The first time we laughed until we cried again, I knew we were going to be okay. Thank you for finding the funny side, even when it was hard to find.”
“You have taught hundreds of kids, and somehow you still have lessons for me. Patience, kindness and how to really listen all came from watching you.”
“You carried so much this year, and you never once asked for thanks. So please let me carry a little more now, while you finally rest.”
“I would have been my own father all over again if you had not been there. You did not correct me. You just went first and let me copy you quietly.”
“Our kids do not know yet how lucky they are to have you. One day they will, and they will thank you for all of it.”
“You spend your shifts making sure everyone else is comfortable and safe. Today it is your turn, so let me take care of you for a change.”
“You tried to tell me something important, and I was too busy being right to hear it. I have thought about it every day since, and you deserved better.”
“You know how stubborn I can be, so you know this card is serious. I am sorry. You were hurt, and that is the last thing I ever want.”
“I wish I could take back the last few days and do them all over. Since I cannot, I will make the next ones better. I am truly sorry.”
“You teach all day, then come home and help with homework without a single sigh. Well, maybe one sigh. But you never stop believing in them, or in me.”
“I meant every word I said on our wedding day. But the promises I am proudest of are the small ones we have kept ever since.”
“Every year you say you are getting older, and every year I see someone more beautiful. It is not just your smile. It is your kindness, your strength and your heart.”