Here's a low stakes question to start the community.
My father adopted me when he married my mother forty years ago. Unfortunately, she died only seven years later. Together they had two of their own. He's not an overly affectionate person, but in my adulthood he's been incredibly supportive.
Recently, he took a week off of work (a BFD for him) and flew halfway across the US to take care of me and my animals after a serious surgery. I'm trying to write a thank you note, but everything I write seems clinical or soppy. I've even tried chat GPT, but they're as awful and stilted as I am.
So here's the thing I want advice on... How do I thank him for continously choosing to be my dad for the last ~40 years?
Just write it from the heart, tell him what you're feeling and know that a man that flew halfway across the US to support you will be bowled over by the gesture. There's literally nothing you can say in your message to him that will be wrong if it comes from your heart.
I find poems are nice, but I appreciate it isn't for everyone, but just start with a few lines, 6-8 words in each that describe the picture in your head of how you feel about your dad. Don't worry about rhyming, and punctuate as you'd speak it.