23/06/2026
Dear Maisie
I visited you today.
Your family has planted a garden around where you rest - and there are butterflies. Of course there are butterflies. They were there at your service too, dancing with the dandelions, as if you’d arranged it yourself.
I only met you once. But I felt like I was meeting royalty.
At your service I said that today was not about making it make sense. That today was about love, about witness, about saying your name out loud.
MAISIE.
Two and a half months later, I’m still saying it.
You came here for a short time. But the people who loved you - your beautiful mum and dad, your family, everyone who stood in that room - carry you forward in everything they do.
And the truth is, the only thing harder than a world without you in it would be a world in which you had never existed at all. That would be unthinkable. Because however brief your time here was, you were extraordinary. You changed people forever. You were… you are… so very loved. And you always will be…
Keep saying her name. Because every time we do, she is still here.
With love and gratitude for the honour of knowing you, even briefly.
Matt 🦋
Shared with the permission and love of Maisie’s family 💛