Wives
“When this year finally ends, I want to make big plans with you. A trip, a garden, a lazy Sunday with nowhere to be. Anything you want.”
“I get to watch our children grow up, and I get to watch you raise them. Some days I honestly cannot tell which of the two makes me prouder.”
“I am proud of you for so many things that I rarely say out loud. Your patience, your courage and the way you never give up on the people you love.”
“I am proud of the nurse you are, and even prouder of the mother you are. You give your whole heart to both, and it shows in everything you do.”
“You spend every shift looking after the people who need you most. And you still come home with enough left over to look after all of us.”
“You are not just raising kids. You are raising good, kind people. Every time one of them is kind to someone, I see your hand in it.”
“I should have been on your side, and instead I left you feeling alone. That is not the husband I want to be, and it is not the one you deserve.”
“Some heroes wear capes. Mine wears scrubs and sensible shoes. You spend every shift taking care of people on their hardest days.”
“Every scraped knee in this house gets seen by a professional. The kids have no idea how lucky that makes them, but I do.”
“We did not always know what came next this year, but we faced it side by side. I would not want anyone else next to me, not for one minute.”
“My favorite part of the week is a slow Sunday morning with you. Coffee, the crossword and nowhere we have to be until noon.”
“Your students probably sang to you today, and some of them were even in tune. I hope you felt how much you are loved, in that classroom and at home.”
“When I ran out of hope this year, you lent me some of yours. You never made me feel small for needing it, not even once.”
“I still get a little nervous when you walk into a room. I hope that never changes, and I do not think it will.”
“Thank you for being patient with me while I figured out how to apologize. You deserved better from me, and I know it.”
“Some days this year, all we could do was get through to tonight. And every night, you were still there beside me, still hopeful.”
“Every morning I wake up and make the same easy decision all over again. I choose you, I choose us, and I choose this life we have built together.”
“After all these years, I still reach for your hand without thinking. It is the most natural thing in the world, and the best one I know.”
“You have taught hundreds of students, and I may be your slowest one. Year by year, you have taught me patience, kindness and how to listen.”
“This year asked more of us than I ever thought one year could. And here we are, still standing, still laughing and still together.”
“Years in, and you still walk into a room and take the whole thing with you. I have watched it happen a thousand times and it still catches me off guard.”
“This year changed a lot of things, but it did not change us. If anything, it showed me how strong we are when we stand together.”
“I have never seen anyone be so strong and so soft at the same time. That is what becoming a mother has done to you, and it is beautiful.”
“This year tested us in ways I never saw coming. You kept going when everything felt heavy, and you kept all of us going too.”