You’ve been my first safe place, and my constant home ever since.

No matter how grown my steps may be, I still hear your voice, steady, warm, the rhythm of my roots.

You taught me how to stand on my own without ever making love feel conditional.

How to leave, while knowing exactly where I belonged.

I carry your patience in the way I pause, your strength in the way I keep going.

Even now, when my life is louder, fuller, there’s comfort in knowing someone has always seen me clearly.

Not just who I was, but who I was becoming.

If I’ve learned how to love well, it’s because I learned it here, in your steadiness, your care, your quiet faith in me.

Some loves change shape as we grow. Ours didn’t fade, it deepened.

And wherever life takes me next, there will always be a part of me that knows how to come

Home.

Sometimes kind words don’t need a reason, just sending you joy this summer season!

Jake always dancing to the beat of your own drum,

Still speaking in more than one tongue - ¡muy guapo, hun!

Molly with all your oven experiments,
Elbow-deep in dough is your true element.

Clever and kind, creative and bright, mischievous too (but mostly polite).

From your former nanny, wishing you well,

Have all the adventures, more than you can tell!

You’ve loved a hundred things,
loudly, fully, all the way.

Each one a little world
you let yourself live in, unapologetically.

You had a gift for picking the longest playlists,
then laughing all the way through of them.

And Smyths, that was your happy place.
A plastic palace. You lit up like an unboxed toy.

So, here’s your reminder:

You’re part of the wonder too.

A one-off. A rare drop.

Holographic. Possibly glow-in-the-dark.

Be your own
favourite.

You’ve always been someone worth choosing,

the symphony and the main event.

I had a feeling you might need a reminder so here it is:
Whatever’s going on,
you’re a boss.
A phoenix rising above it all.

You’ve grown your own lane, your bloom seen far and wide.

Unapologetic. Original.

Nothing borrowed, standing fully in your own light.

You move like the room is catching up, walk like the road knows your name.

And best of all —

you’re still becoming.

What’s next doesn’t stand a chance.