Ivy Hearts
“I keep saying the word out loud to people who have not actually asked me anything. It has been months now and it has not worn off once, and I expect it never will.”
“I still remember walking you to your very first day of school. You let go of my hand and never looked back, and look at you now.”
“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.”
“You gave me time you did not owe me and advice nobody was paying for. And you kept doing it long after it had stopped being any part of your job.”
“I stood outside after you graduated, trying to find something decent. What I managed was a comment about the traffic and where we had parked.”
“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.”
“On the days when everything feels heavy, I hope you remember this card. You are stronger than the hard days, and you never have to face them alone.”
“There are four generations between the start of this and you. I will not see most of what you do with it, and I am not worried about it at all.”
“I have watched you be told to be smaller and quieter more than once. Do not. I spent a great many years doing exactly that and it bought me nothing.”
“I have seen a lot of your big days, from first steps to graduation. This one might be the best yet, because you have never looked this happy.”
“You are starting over in a new city, with new streets and new faces. I know it feels big, but you have never been one to shrink from something big.”
“You pull a face when you concentrate that you have never once seen. I have been looking at it across kitchen tables for half of my life.”
“The first voice I ever knew was yours, and it is still the one I hear. It turns up whenever I am deciding something difficult, and it helps.”
“My heart walks with you and holds you even when my arms cannot. On your special day, remember you will never lose. You either win or learn. Aim for the skies, sweetheart. Happy birthday!”
“You see the good in every child who walks into your classroom. Our own kids get that same gift every day, and it shows in who they are becoming.”
“You spent years learning how to teach, and you never stopped being curious yourself. That is the kind of teacher kids remember for the rest of their lives.”
“I see you at the kitchen table late at night, cutting out letters and planning lessons. Your students will never know how much love goes into each one.”
“Slowly, the light is coming back into our days, and I can see it in your smile. That smile is the best thing I have seen all year.”
“You have cared for so many patients, and now you have the most important one of all. Our baby has the most caring, capable mom in the whole world.”
“Years from now, some grown-up will still remember your name. They will tell someone about the teacher who made them feel clever.”
“No one made us family. We chose it, and we have chosen it every year since. You are the one I call first, with the good news and with the terrible news.”
“You told me to slow down for years and I treated it as nagging. I have slowed down now and the only thing I regret is how long I took.”
“The pencil marks on the kitchen doorframe stopped a long time ago. But I still measure you every year, by how much prouder you make me.”
“The photo of you on my desk gets me through every long afternoon. People ask who she is, and I get to say she is my wife.”