Here's one I made earlier (aka Sweet 16)

Parents are supposed to be proud of their offspring; it comes with the territory. We applaud every unintelligible muttering, every wobbly scribble and wooden-spoon wave, heaping praise out loud to patient listeners.
As the teen years make the going increasingly bumpy, praise often turns to worry; still we sift out the good bits when we can.
Today our son turns 16. I did some homework on all the things he can now do: drink beer, buy a lottery ticket, pilot a gilder, and the rest. In his birthday card, his dad and I listed the many places he’s been. What a very long index, he’s a lucky lad but deserving of it all. We felt it worth mentioning them so he could realise where he’s been; what he’s done.
We’re told to live for the now, to think only of the present, but when you’re 16 that’s a contradiction. Halfway through a stressful exam-or-not-exam year, our son is fixated on fast-forwarding because that’s what he’s been told to do. That’s probably good advice, but it can’t hurt to take a glance backwards every now and then.
In Singapore I posted lists of quotes on our boy’s ninth, tenth, 11th and 12th birthdays. I’d log down his ‘isms’ as the months went by, enjoying the funny turns of phrase. Now the chatter is sporadic and on a need-to-know basis; it’s hard to jot down a funny quote through a closed bedroom door.
Nevertheless I did catch a few, including this one, dropped with impeccable timing into a lockdown lunch. It summed up the miserable year that was(n’t) 2020:
Me: What’s on the timetable today?
Him: [browses schedule] Um… just Melancholy and Sadness.
You probably had to be there.
For this year’s birthday I chose to repost a memory from seven years ago. I think it was an early indicator of the kind of young man our boy is morphing into: someone unassuming, clever, witty, sensitive and unique. Someone who has no idea how lovely they are.
Happy birthday, SM. Keep playing as if no one’s listening and carving out your steady uphill trudge. There is light at the top, we promise.*
Much love from Mum and Dad xxx

*If you could just do the dishwasher first…