To my son

I give you me.

Because I know how it feels to be a child with no one. No one to protect you, no one to give you even the simplest things you needed. I have carried that my whole life. And the day you came into the world, I made a promise: that you would never know that feeling. That whatever it cost me, I would give you the one thing I never had.

I give you my presence. Not the kind that only shares a room, but the kind that truly sees you. Awake and attentive. All the way here, for as long as you need me and as long as I live.

Because love is not what we say. It is that we stay.

Everything I have built, I built knowing this: there is no replacement for presence. You taught me that. You are the reason for all of it.