When ‘thank you’ isn’t enough

What do you say when ‘thank you’ isn’t enough?

I’m supposed to be good with words, but it’s hard to find the ones that are sufficient. Even harder to piece them together in a way that can equal what I want to express.

What words can capture the time spent in a car, or on a field, or seated on a bucket with a glove outstretched? What words could possibly paint the colors I remember of golden days beneath the sun, the green of the grass, the red of the dirt? Or the sound of you saying goodnight after work, without fail, even when you thought I was asleep?

The inside jokes that are still funny. The silly songs to radio jingles I still have memorized. The vacations every year, with your sore back and sunburn, just because we cried when it was time to come home.

For the encouragement when no one else believed, and the push when even I didn’t believe in myself. For seeing the things only you could see, and helping me become me. Even as you watch me grow, just know I could never have done it without you.

And still wouldn’t be able to.

So how can I say thank you? It never will feel like enough. It would take more time than what’s passed, and even then, it still might not be enough. But I suppose it’s a start.

So Dad: thank you.

Happy Father’s Day… I love you!