Dear Charlie,
I saw this card and immediately thought of you and Diane. I know that you are going to spend Christmas with the Richs; but I wanted you to know that your real Dad still loves you and your sister, and that my Christmas wish for both of you is first to pursue your dreams by reaching for the stars and keeping one foot on the ground so that you don't lose touch with reality.
But most of all, I want you to remember what I've always said to you when I left visiting you - when I'm not with you in person, I am with you in your heart. As the song Celine Dion sings, "Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more you open the door, and you're here in my heart, and my heart will go on and on."
It is during the Christmas season that I miss you both the most. I remember the good times we had when I came to see you on Christmas and your birthdays. We are a part of each other, and I long for the day when we will be one family again and we can sing together again.
Come home soon; but if you can't come home just yet, please drop me a line and tell me how you are doing; and please remember me on the important days - just as I remember you on your birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Go pursue your dreams; but if you include your real mother, include me too - for I am part of you too. I've been listening to Gordon Lightfoot's song Race Among the Ruins. It ends each chorus with the words - "If you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon." Don't wait until it's too late to make full the joys that await us.
May the joy of Christmas and the hope of the New Year be with you and Diane. May the Lord bring you both home to me soon, so that we can blend our voices together in song in Thanksgiving to God - the way we used to do.
I will always love you both - very, very much! Come home soon!
Dad
