Dad……
There are days when the missing you
hits so suddenly
it steals the breath from my chest,
as if grief has hands,
and it remembers exactly
where my heart is.

I still can’t understand
how the world can keep going
when yours stopped.
How morning can dare to break
without your voice in it,
how night can fall
without you to tell me
everything will be alright.

I wish you knew
how many times I reach for you
without thinking,
a question on my tongue,
a story I want to tell you,
a moment I want you to see.
And the silence that answers me
is the heaviest thing I’ve ever carried.

You were more than a father.
You were my steady ground,
my teacher, my protector,
my quiet example
of what love looks like
when it’s patient,
and strong,
and selfless.

I hope heaven knows
what it has in you.
I hope the angels understand
that your laughter alone
could light their whole sky,
and that your heart
was big enough
to hold this entire world
and still have room
for one more “I love you.”

Sometimes, when I’m alone,
I talk to you.
Not because I’ve forgotten you’re gone,
but because some part of me
still believes you hear me,
still believes love
can cross any distance,
even the one between here
and heaven.

I want you to know, Dad,
that I’m trying.
I’m trying to be strong
in the ways you taught me.
I’m trying to make you proud
in the ways that still matter.
And on the days I fall apart,
I imagine your hand on my shoulder,
steadying me the way it always did.

Two worlds separate us now,
but nothing,
not time,
not distance,
not even heaven,
can erase the part of you
that lives in me.

Until the day I see you again,
rest easy, Dad.
Save a place for me,
right beside you,
where your child
has always belonged.

I love and miss you more
than words will ever understand. 💔