I wrote this several years ago and read it each year at our family Christmas table. I have learned how to love. I have strived and failed and succeeded in no particular order and I have been humbled. Through it all my family has always been there, unwavering. I wrote this toast to my glorious wife Mac and our four children Jono, ‘Niffer, Toby and Sophie to their partners Anya, Jon, Emma and Devon and to our five grandchildren: Bailey and Koby, Freddy, Rowe and Clementine.

Here’s to you all and those who follow on from here. 

A TOAST TO MY FAMILY

We are borne into a warm embrace

It offers us strength for tests we’ll face.

One by one we make our way

Living our years day by day.

When we’re born we think there’s one

Most people call her some version of mom.

But each year we live, the more we reach out

We find family nearby, to whoop and to shout.

This gift we call Life at its best is shared

With others among us who we know have cared.

Real friends are loved and never forsaken

It’s where secrets are safe and can always be taken.

But when my life is lived and I come to my beckon

My family has loved me, not held me to reckon.

As I wind my Life down I know more than ever

With my family my heart rests, kept safe like a treasure.

And as it was of me, let me ask this of you

Embrace one another, feel your hearts through.

I’ve been gifted with riches only family bestow

For you I wish the same and I want you to know

I love you all with all of my heart

You have lifted me high, right from the start.