Happy Birthday Michael!

Dear Michael,

You are a kind, sweet and gentle soul. I am grateful to have you in my life.

You were young when your life changed. Although your parents did not stay married, they have loved you from the moment they knew you would be joining their family.

When I met your father, you were a sweet boy with round cheeks, whose world had just been turned upside down the year before.

Through the years, we have grown up together as we became a new family.

Listen, you have been through it a liitle bit, haven't you? Your parents divorced. Diabetes diagnosis at age eleven. Your dad remarried and then you had a new brother when you were fourteen. Add Covid during college, too.

I love watching you navigate this world as an adult. You are becoming the man we knew you could be. It won't happen overnight. It does not work that way. You will start and stop. You will move forward and then backward. It happens to all of us.

I know it doesn't always feel like it, but you are making progress. Every day, I see a change in you and I am proud of you. I am one of your biggest fans. I think you know that.

I might have been tough on you when you were younger because I can see the potential in you. You are smarter than you give yourself credit. I really do believe you have the ability to do anything you want to do. We just need to find out what that is and off you will go.

It is going to be a great year.

I love you kid.