It’s April 20th and dear sweet Emma, you should be celebrating your 16th Birthday. You should be receiving a Hot Wheels car from us that would have made you mad. We probably then would be taking you to get your license and buying the other half of a nice car because you are so good with money and the best babysitter in the city.
It’s more than eight months later and it only hurts when I breathe or think. I just can’t believe that you are gone, but you really are gone. I miss seeing you every morning at 5:20 and driving you to early morning Bible study. I miss all of our car rides together. The rides to school, to practice, to tournaments and anywhere else you wanted to go. I miss you punching me in the arm and yelling Slug Bug. You actually had started to hurt me, but I wasn’t gonna let you know!
I miss coaching you from the stands even if I am not supposed to. I miss watching you play softball, it’s really hard this time of year. You should be having fun with your teammates and who knows maybe even starting on Varsity this year.
I miss you getting off the bus at the “Littles” school so you could see them, even if you did pretended to just want to get off the bus as fast as she could.
I miss your humor. I miss your sarcasm. I miss your kindness. I miss you pretending you didn’t like attention or other humans in your house. You were so good with the kids and they miss you so much, all of them, they all miss you. Yes, even Tucker and Paige.
We all miss you, so please stay as close as you can. We try to honor your memory the best we can, I hope you are proud of us. I hope that people remember you and what you stand for every time they eat a tootsie Roll or a pair of Converse, every time they hear a song from your playlist or a random act of kindness #forourEmma.
I wish I could write as well as Mom but I hope you get the message that we love you and think about you all of the time. I pray every day that we can feel you with us and ask Heavenly Father to let you watch over the Littles from Heaven.
Have a great Birthday Emma
Love Dad.
