07/14/2025
WE VISITED HER GRAVE EVERY YEAR BUT THIS TIME SOMETHING WAS DIFFERENT 🌼🕊️
They were too young to really understand when she passed. I remember holding them both at the service, one on each hip, doing everything I could not to fall apart. I told them she was in the sky, watching over us. That she loved them more than cookies and cartoons combined.
Now they’re five. Old enough to ask questions, to hold flowers, and to remember more than I thought they could.
We visit every year on her birthday. We bring yellow daisies — her favorite — and take a photo to “show her we visited,” just like I promised.
This time, we dressed up. Ellie insisted on wearing the gray dress because “Nana liked twirly ones.” Drew wore his little button-up, though he had half of it undone before we even made it through the gate.
They hugged in front of her stone like they always do. It was meant to be a quick visit. Just flowers, a photo, and a few quiet moments.
But then Drew pointed at the base of the headstone and said, “That box wasn’t there last year.”
I looked down.
He was right.
Tucked neatly under the bouquet was a wooden box. It looked clean, like someone had just placed it there that morning.
No name. No writing on the outside.
I opened it.
And what was inside—
— continues in the first 🗨️⬇️ —
