The other day, your 4th grandchild, Bahiyah, told me she was sad. And I asked why. It was because someone had made a comment about someone passing and no longer being here. She said it made her think about you and it made her sad because you aren’t here. This little sweet girl who has never met you, never heard your voice, never seen you face to face, never felt your love, misses you. Her feelings astonished me and saddened me, to be reminded again that there will always be a hole in the place that was yours in my children’s life. But though most of them have never met you, they’re still a part of keeping your memory alive. They ask about you. I tell them about you....They miss you as though they’ve known you. They love you as though you have been here to cherish them their whole lives. They remember you through me. There’s so much of you in me. The more I learn about myself, the more I understand you. The more I understand you, the more I want to know you and the more I want to ask you. There’s so many things I want to ask that I didn’t even know to ask 10 years ago. 10 years ... only today did I realize how long it has been. I’m starting a new decade of life without you.... without you...that thought is as unreal today as it was the day we lost you. We all miss you mom and we love you. I feel so blessed to have known you; to be chosen to be your daughter. I’m blessed to have been raised by you and loved by you. I’m blessed to be one who gets to remember you - even though that means being one who can only ever miss you from now on. I will take that, because it means, for a moment in time, I got to have you mom. Happy birthday. We love you always.