"Today is my son, Matt's 44th birthday. I wish you a very happy birthday, Matt. All my children are special in their own way and I love each of them for their many different qualities. I have always considered our Matt, perhaps my most special of children. He came into my life at the age of three years as my step-son when I married his mother. Since that moment though, he has been as much a son that any father could ever wish for. From all my children, he is the only one never to have spoken back to me or challenged my authority when he was young. Whenever Father's Day or my birthday comes around, his is the first card and present to come through the door,
Matt's development wasn't the easiest that any child could have. He was always what they used to term 'slow' at school and was invariably a number of years behind his peers in educational attainment. Yet, since starting work in his late teens, I can never recall a time when he was out of work in his factory job. Indeed, for the past fifteen years plus, he has held down work when others in his firm were being made redundant. He has also owned his own terraced house and is able to manage his outgoings and household expenses with occasional oversight from his mother.
Matt is a loveable person who is always the last to offend another, and never then intentionally. He is a gentle giant who stands head and shoulder above his peers when it comes to caring, gentleness, politeness and consideration of other's feelings. His greatest blessing since he came into my life is that he has always had two dads who love him dearly. His blood father is the best of dads and I have never tried to usurp his role in Matt's life. This has obviously helped Matt readjust to his parent's separation and divorce as a child.
Matt, in every older person, is a younger person wondering, 'what the hell happened?' What happened to you son since we first met was that you have become a better person each day you have lived. I will leave you to enjoy this birthday revealing the secret I learned many years ago when I passed my forties of how to stay forever young: live honestly, eat slowly, fart in private and above all, lie about your age.
A very happy birthday Matt on this your special day. May your day be filled with much love, happiness, peace and generosity, Dad Bill xxx"
Love and peace Bill xxx