Elm Halo
“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.”
“If you miss home a little in the first few weeks, that is perfectly normal. It just means you were loved here, and you still are, every single day.”
“When I saw you in scrubs for the first time, I saw every hour you put in to get there. The studying, the early starts and all the weekends you gave up.”
“I wake before you most days and I lie there for ten minutes doing nothing. It is the only part of the day that belongs to neither of us and I keep it.”
“My favorite view in the whole world is you with our children. The way you listen, the way you laugh and the way they look at you.”
“You are and always will be one of the best things that ever happened to me. I am so grateful for the person you've become. You make me proud every single day, and I cherish being your dad more than words can say.”
“There was never a big conversation about what any of this was going to be. We just kept turning up for each other until it was obvious to everyone.”
“You do the jobs nobody talks about and you have never made any of it awkward. You keep my dignity entirely intact on the days I cannot do it myself.”
“Our schedules do not always line up, and some weeks we pass in the hallway. So I have learned to treasure every hour we get, and I do not waste one.”
“Someday when the pages of my life end, I know you'll be one of the most beautiful chapters. I hope you believe in yourself as much as I believe in you. My heart walks with you and holds you even when my arms cannot.”
“No matter how old you get, you will always be my kid. And I will always be the first one in line to cheer for you.”
“I was hard on you about the grades and I thought I was doing you a favor. You turned out clever in ways nothing at school ever measured, and I was wrong.”
“I hope the schedule was kind and you are not working on your birthday this year. And if you are, I will have cake and a warm hug waiting when you get home.”
“I am far enough down the family tree from you that none of this is required of me. I have been paying attention anyway, from a polite distance, the whole time.”
“We spent a decade driving each other completely up the wall over nothing. And none of it left a mark, which is the part I find myself thinking about.”
“You write the grocery list, and I always come home with something that is not on it. You pretend to be annoyed, but I have seen you smile.”
“Nothing we argued about was worth making you feel the way I did. I am sorry. I would rather lose every argument than lose a day with you.”
“You have spent years taking care of other people's families. Now you get to hold your own, and I get to watch you fall in love.”
“Watching our baby hold your finger, I saw our whole future in one tiny hand. Birthdays, first steps, first days of school, and you there for every one.”
“One chapter closes today, and a whole new adventure begins. Wherever it takes you, I will be cheering for you every step of the way.”
“We still dance when our song comes on, even in the middle of the grocery store. You pretend to be embarrassed, but you never once let go of my hand.”
“You spend all day with other people's kids and still have patience left for ours. I do not know how you do it, but our family is better because you do.”
“I am proud of what you have done, but I am even prouder of who you are. You are the kind of person who notices when someone is having a hard day.”
“I still think about all those rainy Saturdays on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. You always picked the movie, and I always fell asleep before the end.”