{"id":61858,"date":"2025-05-31T04:18:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T04:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=61858"},"modified":"2025-05-31T04:18:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T04:18:32","slug":"for-every-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=61858","title":{"rendered":"For Every Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-879.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61859\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-879.png 512w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-879-240x300.png 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>My son sent a letter in a bottle, hoping to find the father he\u2019d never met. I assumed it would drift into silence\u2014until two men showed up at our gate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tommy was four when it began: stick figures, mustached smiles, and blue waves like spaghetti. Each year, he asked me to write his father. Each year, I did\u2014because it was easier than the truth. His dad left and never returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At ten, Tommy stopped writing. \u201cI think\u2026 if he\u2019s real, he doesn\u2019t care.\u201d I urged one last letter: \u201cIf you\u2019re real, find me. If not\u2014goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On his birthday, Tommy waited for nothing. But then a man in a sailor uniform appeared\u2014Sam, not his father, but someone who\u2019d loved us quietly for years. I was angry. He meant well, but crossed a line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then Daniel showed up\u2014the real father, who claimed he never knew. Too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both men offered apologies. But I said what needed to be said: <em>You don\u2019t get to use my son\u2019s heart to heal your regret.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tommy, wise beyond his years, asked, \u201cWhy can\u2019t I have two dads?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And maybe\u2026 maybe he could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=61764\">also read&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My son sent a letter in a bottle, hoping to find the father he\u2019d never met. I assumed it would drift into silence\u2014until two men showed up&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61860,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61858\/revisions\/61860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}