for a daughter who didn't have to — and did it anyway
There's something that happens when your kid grows up. Not a single moment — more like a slow accumulation of them, until one day you look across a dinner table and realize the person sitting there is someone you genuinely admire.
That's where we were last night. Watching you and Tim guide us through a menu we had absolutely no business navigating on our own — with enough confidence for all four of us — while your dad quietly scanned the table for a fork like his life depended on it.
For the record: it was your mother who made the call. Your dad simply made sure that when he flagged the waiter down for her, he didn't walk away empty-handed either. Nobody said anything. That was very kind of everyone involved.
You didn't have to take us to dinner, Jazmine. There was no occasion. No birthday, no anniversary, no reason at all — except that you wanted to. That is not a small thing. That is exactly the kind of person you are, and we see it clearly.
And now you're heading back to school. UNR. A master's in psychology. You already know how people work — watching you navigate the world, you always have — but now you're going to understand why they work that way. That combination is going to take you somewhere remarkable.
Tim — we see you too. The photo setup was calculated, we'll give you that. But the fact that you thought to do it at all says something about who you are and how much this family means to you. You've found your place here. It wasn't announced. It didn't need to be.
We are proud of you both. Of where you're going, of what you're building together, and of the fact that you chose — on a random night, for no reason at all — to spend it with us. We don't take that lightly, even if your dad spent half of it chewing on a cephalopod with complete commitment and zero regret.