08/12/2026
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM • It’s been three birthdays now that you’ve been gone. There is so much I want to tell you, show you, laugh about, ask you about, remember with you, and experience with you, still. You would have been 71 and still as determined as ever.
I want you to see how Arbor hasn’t stopped growing what looks like 1/2” a month since you left us. I want you to hear how much she still needs you to talk to. I want you to watch her walk through the doors of her 7th grade year at SMS. I want to ask you if she is as mature as I was, and I want you to see how I accidentally made a carbon copy of myself, in her. Today was extremely hard for her and she missed you so much, and it broke my heart all over again to watch her cry so much over missing you and comprehending the hurt you must have been feeling to leave us the way you did.
I want you to see how Jace’s heart is still the biggest and sweetest. I want you to hear how his sense of humor hasn’t changed. I want you to see him hanging with “his boys”, and how wicked good he is at math. I want you to see how he is so supportive of me while my body is breaking down, and how much love he has to give.
But most importantly, I just want to pick up the phone and call you 3-4 times a day like we always would. I want to ask you if I’m doing the right thing and making the right choice with what’s in front of me. We miss you so much it hurts, and we remembered you all day long to celebrate you. We talked about how you’d be out cutting the grass, or getting ready to go out fishing. As we went to the beach to watch the sunset tonight and to remember you the way we always do, I saw you there with us.
We love you and want you to know how great of a birthday it was for you today. Love you, mom.
❤️