I talk to you now
because my heart doesn’t know how to stop.
Because loving you didn’t end
when you did.
You were only sixteen,
and I want you to know this first
you were enough.
Exactly as you were.
You didn’t need more time
to matter more.
I loved you in ways I never said out loud
in the pride I felt watching you grow,
in the quiet joy of knowing you were mine,
my niece, my heart walking around
outside my body.
I loved your presence,
the way you filled space without trying,
the way your name still feels like home
when I whisper it.
I wish I could tell you
how deeply you were loved
before the world became too heavy,
before goodbye arrived without asking.
I wish I could have protected you
from whatever took you away from us.
Now I carry you differently.
I carry you in memory,
in ache,
in the moments when I reach for my phone
and remember I can’t call you anymore.
But you are still with me.
In the way I smile when I remember you.
In the way my chest tightens
because love doesn’t know where to go.
In the way sixteen will always mean you.
If you can hear me,
know this:
you are still loved every day.
You are still spoken to.
You are still held in my heart
with a tenderness that never fades.
You didn’t stay long,
but you changed me forever.
And I will keep loving you
for all the years you never got,
for all the moments you should have had,
for always.
Goodnight, sweet girl.
You are not forgotten.
You never will be.
<3
06/01/2026
