There are bad days and there are better days and there are days when I plead​ to God to give me a break when memories are too painful to bear. And there are days when I lean into life in a way I never thought I could and find joy once again in a life which will always have you with us in spirit.

Your little sister made her way to college orientation this week, hard to believe she is now seventeen and soon beginning a new chapter in her life. We got to join her for orientation and so many conversations with other parents began with “Is this your first child going to college?” innocent, friendly conversations from one parent to another but each time a knife to my heart and a new dread thinking how many more times in my life do I have to answer this question, each answer a reminder of how you could have been saved.

You are not here and you will not be here. You did not make it to college and oh the world is a sadder place because of that.
She is great, that sister of yours…Kathleen. She is smart and she is brave and she is strong and she is kind… but she hurts and I saw that in all its ​glory ​this week​ at college.​ Her ice-breaker questions at orientation were about siblings too, how many, how few…

And so ​Rory ​when you left, no matter how many times we screamed your name and wanted you back, the world kept turning. We try to find the courage to live a meaningful life where sadness and joy can co-exist, we fight for a future, one lost to you, a future never guaranteed to anyone. A future no-one can take for granted.