Every necklace
“I still wake up early on Christmas morning, even though nobody races down the stairs now. Some habits stay with a dad, like listening for the sound of your feet.”
“You are very small for this necklace and that is entirely the point of it. It is meant to wait in a box until you are big enough to remember today on your own.”
“I did not arrive with any right to tell you anything, and I knew that. So I turned up to things and fixed what needed fixing and waited to be asked.”
“I know you are already waiting for our baby's first word. With a teacher for a mother, I have a feeling it will come early.”
“I made every mistake with money that a man can make when I was younger. You have made none of them and you have never once said so to my face.”
“Some of my favorite moments are just watching you with our kids. The patience, the hugs and the way you always know what they need.”
“We are not related in any way that a form would ever accept as an answer. Every single person who has seen us in a room together has assumed it anyway.”
“This was not the year either of us planned, not even close. But we held on to each other, and that turned out to be enough.”
“There is no paperwork holding this together and there never needed to be. We keep choosing it, on the good days and on the very dull ones.”
“This year asked more of us than any year before it, and it did not ask nicely. You kept holding my hand through all of it, even on the days you were tired.”
“This Christmas you might be working while the rest of us open presents. We will save you a plate and a seat, and we will toast the nurse in the family.”
“We shared a wall for years and you heard every bad idea I ever had. You never told anybody about a single one of them, which is why you are standing here.”
“The house is louder for three days when you visit and too quiet afterward. Your mother and I do not talk about that part. We both just go to bed early.”
“I am not a romantic man and you married me knowing that perfectly well. So take this as evidence that I have been thinking about it for a long time.”
“You spent years getting ready for the world, and now it is your turn. Go out there and show everyone what I have known all along.”
“I met a great many people first and not one of them was anything like wrong. They were just not this, and I did not understand the difference at all until you.”
“This Christmas I wish you rest, good food and people who make you laugh. I wish you a new year that is even kinder to you than you hope.”
“I said something in the heat of it that I would give anything to take back. It was not true, and you did not deserve to hear it from me.”
“I let small things get in the way of what matters most, and that is you. I am sorry, and I am ready to do better, starting today.”
“I forgot something that mattered to you, and that is not okay. You are the most important person in my life, and I should have shown it.”
“People keep asking whether I worry about what the world is going to be like for you. I have met you. I worry a good deal more about what the world is in for when you arrive.”
“You are the only person who tells me when I am being an idiot. Everyone else has either given up or decided it is not worth the trouble.”
“Always keep me in your heart, for you are always in mine. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused. Please forgive me. You are one of the most beautiful chapters in my life, and I cherish you always.”
“I love watching you laugh with our kids when you think no one is looking. Those are the moments I fall in love with you all over again.”