I wish you could have met my husband. You would have loved him and he would have adored you.

Miss you everyday Dad, wish you lived another decade with us. I know your memory is a blessing for all of us!!!

Even though I knew you for 14 years, I wish I used that time to learn more from you and appreciate what we had before it was gone. Rest in peace jidou life hasn't been the same without you ❤️❤️

i loved u before I even knew you and now that you're gone u don't know who I am anymore. I wish u could see who I am today. I wish I wasn't so young when u passed so I could remember u better. ur influence on my life is decreasing by the day which worries me but my memory of you will never fade. I hope heaven is real and u r resting easy ❤️❤️

i've grown up quite a bit since you last saw me, but i am the same me that you once knew: the same chubby face and loud laughter, but maybe a foot and a half taller with messier hair. how do i start filling you in about the past eight years? well, i guess i've come out of my shell a little bit - something you always encouraged me to. you were always that example for me, i guess. everyone still talks about you - canadian khala was telling us about the sweets she used to steal from you back when you were still around. when we come back to your house, i stay in your room. the swivelling chair we used to spin on for hours has been relegated down to the basement, rusting with antiquity. khala couldn't stand the barely functional airconditioner so she's replaced it with one that works. all those incoherent documents are still sitting in your desk, and the cardboard mattress still hasn't been replaced. the coat rack in your bathroom has barely moved an inch, and the same mug holds our toothbrushes. i wonder if you would prefer it now to what it was back in the day. it's almost as if your house has remained in a bubble - the sofas have the same lumpy grey cushions , and the poutpourri hasn't been changed. all your clothes remain folded in the wardrobe - and you would be surprised to know that i can now fit into all your old shirts - how did you do it? the raw silk itches against my skin! we come to visit you the whole 40 minutes away, and we meet with abba all the time - he misses you & nani very much, but i see so much of you in him that it was almost as if you had never left. the same laugh, the accent similar but not quite the same. the floods drained out all the pictures and clothes in the basement, but we still have the old pictures from your wedding. it's strange that the two of you aren't here to look at with me - describing who is who. many of the faces are anonymous to everyone still around. for my sister (only five when you left) and cousin, you've faded into a distant memory. but to me, ammi & abba you are still very much around. ammi still remembers you and nani every day - her brother and sister do a better job of hiding it than she does. triana also remembers you - she came with us when we came to visit this time. i think of you more often than i would like to admit. it must be nice being with your three other siblings, nani & your parents wherever you are, but i hope you realise that there are people still living that still see you constantly - whether that be on an empty chair next to abba when we see him, the place where you would have sat if you were still here, or at the head of the table whenever the family comes together. i do wish you were still around to discuss what we would do if we ever won the lottery, or someone to go on walks with when everybody else refuses to. i'm so grateful that even if you're gone, i can still feel a part of you nearby. a smiling, younger you is currently smiling down at my from my wall.

you are forever in our hearts and prayers, it's been a long year without you and we miss you so much, see you in the many rainbows and sunsets to come ❤️