Ashby Bow
“The day you told me you wanted to be a nurse, I knew you meant it. Through every exam and every clinical shift, you proved it over and over.”
“I never wanted a neat row of matching dresses. I wanted my people. And you are one of the few I was never going to get through this day without.”
“You can call me about anything, a flat tire, a leaky faucet or just a bad day. I will not always have the answer, but I will always pick up the phone.”
“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.”
“Once you are settled in, I expect an invitation to dinner. I will bring dessert, and I will praise whatever you cook, even the vegetables.”
“You have never once answered the phone and sounded busy, not in my whole life. I know you were. You just put it down every single time I rang.”
“I had no evidence and no reason and I was certain about you immediately. Every sensible thing I know arrived a long way afterwards and only ever agreed with it.”
“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.”
“There is a date in the diary now and a great deal of admin to get through. None of it changes one single thing that I decided a very long time ago.”
“Every year I call you on your birthday and sing, badly, whether you want me to or not. This year I wanted to give you something you can keep longer than a song.”
“In the darkest hour, when the demons come, call on me and we will fight them together. Stand tall, even if you fall. You are stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and more capable of achieving anything you set your mind to.”
“Today everyone in that room will be looking at me, and I will be looking for you. You have been getting me ready for this since long before there was a date.”
“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.”
“I think about you a lot more often than I probably say. In the car, at the store, and every time I hear a song you love.”
“I was wrong, and I knew it long before I was ready to say it. You deserved to hear it sooner, and you deserve to hear it now.”
“We have packed up houses, started over and figured it out as we went. Through all of it, you have been my favorite adventure by a long way.”
“You have never once asked me to be a different sort of man than the one I am. So I have spent years quietly trying to become a better one.”
“Lately I have taken you for granted, and you have every right to be hurt. You deserve to feel cherished every day, and I am sorry I let that slip.”
“You handed him over today without making one single moment of it about you. I have watched other families do this badly and I know what you spared us both.”
“There is a box I kept with every drawing you ever gave me in it. Your mother thinks I kept that box for you. I did not keep it for you.”
“Today there is no schedule, no chores and no list of things to do. There is only whatever you want, for as long as you want it.”
“I had read everything and planned all of it and none of that survived the first hour. You changed the plan without once making me feel like something had gone wrong.”
“You have opinions I did not give you and you argue them better than I would. That was always the point, though nobody warns you how odd it feels to watch.”
“Mostly because you're too heavy now and my back can't take it! Stand tall, even if you fall. When life tries to knock you down, this old lion will always have your back. You shine like the brightest star, kiddo.”