These are the moments we live for

My father is not an outwardly emotional man. He is strong, brave and keeps his feelings closely guarded. How I came to always wear my heart on my sleeve is one of those baffling twists in life.

It is almost impossible to surprise my dad. So when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it. All my cousins were in town to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday. As much as my dad enjoys a quiet subtle celebration, my mom loves to shout it all out from the rooftops. We planned dinners and teas and parties and ended the week with a festival extravaganza with our closest and dearest friends and family.

Everything was squarely focussed on celebrating my mom's life.

My dad's 70th birthday is just a couple of weeks after my moms. I began to hatch a secret plan.

My dad is an artist, yet rarely is able to find time to tap into his creative outlet. He has been consumed with taking care of my mother and making sure life still moved forward. He has been talking about taking a marble sculpture class for years. But it is incredibly expensive since you have to buy all the tools and materials.

We decided to help him celebrate his life as well and encourage him to tap back into a piece of him that brings him so much joy and relaxation. We presented him with a gift certificate for the entire 14 week course, tools and materials included.

My father that never shows too much emotion was overcome by love and relief and appreciation and joy. He was visibly shaken by our gesture and we were all moved beyond tears. The energy level of love and support in the room at that moment might just have been able to bring peace to the middle east.

After two cakes and singing happy birthday to BOTH mom and dad, I gave a little speech - presenting the card and gift to my dad who was a little confused and stunned that we were celebrating his birthday too.

Surprised and surrounded by his family, he began to read the card.

As he read the gift certificate out loud, the emotion started to hit him.

We believe in him and appreciate how deeply he loves my mom. His support of her is overwhelming.

My daddy - we love you so much! Thank you for all that you do.