Grandpa’s Birthday

Nico and I lived with my parents since he was a baby. His father chose not to be a part of his life, so in many ways, my father (Nico’s grandpa) was like a father to him. We lived with my parents until Nico died, so he influenced him his entire life.

When my son was a teen, my dad started enlisting him to do summer projects. They would build things together. It was a great bonding experience and both of them enjoyed working the project from start to finish.

One of my favorite things that they built was this beautiful arbor.

My son passed in January and my dad’s birthday is in early March. It was one of those “firsts” we had to get through-grandpa’s birthday without Nico.

I was looking for a birthday card for my dad and I found this one!

I thought it was so perfect, it looked just like our arbor. The weird thing is that I found this card at a garden center, on my dad’s actual birthday. I was so excited about the card, then I opened it up…

It was a sympathy card! “Who we once loved we can never lose. They are a part of us forever.”

As soon as I read those words, I felt as if Nico was trying to wish his grandpa a happy birthday. I was just shocked and mesmerized by the card and what it said. It really felt like my son was with me.

As I was leaving the store, I paused to look at the card again, kind of stunned at what I was feeling. Just at that moment, a single drop of water fell from the awning above me, right in the corner of my eye, and trickled down my cheek like a tear.

“Happy Birthday, grandpa! I miss you…”