This road of life you are now on has been filled with many twists and turns. You have experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows throughout your marvelous journey thus far. You have ventured far beyond the shore, more times than not, successfully. You have been blessed to experience firsthand the world, its people, its values, its successes and its failures.
You have been blessed with the fondest of memories that warm your heart and soul, memories that reflect the happiest of times through the carefree eyes of a child. Unfortunately too are memories that you see not as grand, for as you've grown, carefree gives way to the world you now see as a man.
You have succeeded beyond measure in many things. You may have come up short in just a few. You continually made those proud who love you. Take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back, take just a moment to glow and be thankful for the little things that make you who you are.
You have discovered through personal relationships what it means to love and be loved. You have unfortunately experienced with this love both heartbreak and the sorrow of loss. You have relished in the opportunities to give with abandon and learned, ever so humbly, what is expected of you through the gracious art of receiving.
You have come to see that change, no matter how large or small, is inevitable, whether you like it or not. How you choose to accept it will forever define you and your happiness throughout your life. Living in the past may be the ideal, but living in the moment is reality and that, my son, is life.
No matter what you may wish would not have happened, when people and emotions are involved, unless you have walked long days in their shoes, their lives are not yours to judge. We all seek to be happy and we flee from rejection and pain. As you age, wisdom will follow and you'll come to understand that true lasting happiness begins and ends within.
You have been taught from where your strength comes, where forgiveness begins and where joy abounds. You have been given through God's grace the wisdom to know you are precious in the eyes of the One who made you and can take comfort in the knowledge that He always has your back. If you will always call on Him for the little things, you will find in life through Him, there are no big things.
You live in a world that is constantly in motion. Stopping the world to get off when things don't go your way is not a luxury you will ever be privy too. The ebbs and flows of life remain in constant flux. Move with them, embrace them and you will always find your steps firm and your path made exceedingly clear.
With you, each new day creates an opportunity to reflect not on "the what if's "of yesterday, but to embrace and cherish the moment of today; to relish in the hope that tomorrow a brighter day may bring. Second chances too will come your way, but it's best to seize this time, this place, this second and do what's right today.
In you is the future. In you there is hope. You are our child. Whether we live together or apart, our hearts and our prayers go with you each and every day. We long to grow old with you in our lives, filling us with joy as we watch your dreams come true.
My wish for you today is to remember where you came from and the values you were taught. In you we have given our all, in spite of what you may think, that you may have all the tools necessary to succeed in this life and the knowledge and wisdom to discard the rest.
Finally, I pray you will look beyond our shortcomings and forgive where forgiveness is due. We're not perfect as you well know, nor will we ever be. I ask for you to cherish the good in me that makes me who I am and look beyond that which disappoints you that you may find in me, not just a parent, but a friend.