It's not just a Father's Day card, it's a milestone

Over the years, the Father's Day and Mother's Day cards Max has brought home from school have always been unofficial milestone markers for me and Dave. Max wrote the card on his own! Max spelled on his own! Max knows that expression! But the words and sentiments he expressed in this year's card were astounding. I asked the teacher if he'd done it on his own. Yes, he had. "He just blew us away," she said.

It is no surprise to anyone in our family that Max's cards for Dave are amazing. He adores Dave and is in total awe of him. Dave is his best friend, the one who goes galavanting with him around New York City, takes him out for steak dinners, accompanies him on hunts to find new ice-cream shops and is generally willing to do anything and everything for Max—including those years when he'd hang out at Home Depot as Max zoomed around with a shopping cart. 

Max and Dave were cool with me sharing these cards. Make that, unabashedly boasting about the two of them. 

Dave and I had  to laugh over the cover of one card, where Max had written both "fire chief" (his job goal) and "movie" (he loves going to movies). "Max, is this card about you or me?" Dave teased him.

I had no idea Max even knew the word "patience."

I'd never before heard Max acknowledge how much the two of them like to joke together. 

See: "Max, is this card about you or me?"

I so love that Max was still thinking about Dave taking him to the prom two years ago. The two of them are excellent travel companions. Their last great trip was a cruise they went on a month before the coronavirus shutdown happened in March 2020. As I write this, Dave, Max and Sabrina are having the time of their life in L.A.

Max's words in this card were amazing. But this is the one that made me well up. 

It reads, "Dear Daddy, Happy Father's Day! I love you. You bring joy into my life."

Oh, yes, Dave does. And it was easy to tell, from the expression on Dave's face as he read the cards, just how much joy Max brings into his life as well.