Ashby Bow
“I used to slip little notes into your lunchbox when you were in school. You are a little old for that now, so consider this card the grown up version.”
“Every list has been worked through and every decision has already been made. There is nothing left to do today except the part you actually wanted.”
“I watched you bring our child into the world, and I have never seen anything so brave. I thought I could not love you any more than I did, and I was wrong.”
“There is nothing special about today. No birthday, no holiday and no big news. I just wanted you to have something that says how much you mean to me.”
“You are on call at work, and you are on call at home too, day and night. Today you are off the clock at both, and that is an order.”
“I still think about pulling you up the hill on that old red sled. Your cheeks were pink, your mittens were soaked, and you wanted one more ride.”
“I have walked beside you to the bus stop, to school and to your first job. Today I get one more walk with you, and it is the one I am proudest of.”
“Your first grocery run will be mostly snacks, and that is completely fine. You will figure out the rest the way you figure out everything, one step at a time.”
“Of everyone in the room today there was only ever going to be one of you. You have held the dress, the plans and my nerve, mostly all at once.”
“You went through every single thing first and then came back and warned me. You made all the obvious mistakes so that I only had to make the new ones.”
“Today our family gets a little bigger, and I could not be happier about it. Anyone who loves you the way you deserve is welcome at our table forever.”
“I still think about our first apartment, with the squeaky floor and the tiny kitchen. We had almost nothing, and I have never been happier than I was with you.”
“You studied for that exam like your whole future depended on it. It did, and you passed it, and now your whole future is wide open.”
“My secret to a long marriage is patience, good coffee and saying sorry first. It is not fancy advice, but it has served me well for a lot of years.”
“I wish you peace this Christmas, and the kind of joy that stays around. You give so much of it to everyone else. You deserve a little back.”
“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.”
“You taught me to do a thing properly the first time, which I resented enormously. I have since said the same sentence to somebody else, in more or less your words.”
“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 were ready for this day a long time before I was. But watching you unpack your own life has made me so proud.”
“You have wanted to teach since you lined up your stuffed animals for spelling tests. Today you get a real classroom, and some very lucky kids get you.”
“All I ever wanted was for you to find someone who makes you laugh. Watching you two together, I know you found that and so much more.”
“I still get a little nervous when you walk into a room. I hope that never changes, and I do not think it will.”
“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.”