Here’s a low stakes question to start the community.
My father adopted me when he married my mother forty years ago. Unfortunately, she died only seven years later. Together they had two of their own. He’s not an overly affectionate person, but in my adulthood he’s been incredibly supportive.
Recently, he took a week off of work (a BFD for him) and flew halfway across the US to take care of me and my animals after a serious surgery. I’m trying to write a thank you note, but everything I write seems clinical or soppy. I’ve even tried chat GPT, but they’re as awful and stilted as I am.
So here’s the thing I want advice on… How do I thank him for continously choosing to be my dad for the last ~40 years?
Why don’t you send him a thank you greeting card with all of the things that you said here and all of the things that you do want to say to him. This way, you don’t have to be in front of his face, and he can read the card in private and then keep it forever because it will be his favorite thing
That’s what I’m asking for help with. How can I word the message that threads the needle between clinical and sappy?
Who cares if you’re being sappy or not. It’s not like you guys are going to be face to face when he’s reading it so he can go hide on the porch away from everybody else and cry a little bit and nobody can say anything
Because if it’s sappy he’ll disregard it. I appreciate how much you’ve put into answering.
My dad sounds a lot like your dad, but I guarantee you that he will secretly save it and cherish it. When I was helping him clean the other day I found something I made for him back when I was in preschool