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<\/p>\n\u201cDear Rachel,<\/p>\n
Today is your birthday. I know you know that already, but I\u2019m just down here reminding the rest of the world. You did a great job of that while you were here, but you\u2019re not now, so I\u2019ll need to carry that torch from here on out.<\/p>\n
Anyone who knew you knew that you were the most selfless person on the face of the planet, and for 364 days a year, you\u2019d put everyone\u2019s needs before yours. But each year, on this day, your birthday, it was about you and no one else. And I loved that about you. I loved how much you loved your birthday.<\/p>\n
For most of us, as we get older, we stop celebrating our birthday. We don\u2019t like to keep count of how old we are getting. But not you. You welcomed it. Heck, you even celebrated your half birthday. Most people stop doing that at like five and a half years old. That wasn\u2019t how you rolled. And from what I remember, we had a heck of a bash when you turned thirty-eight and a half last November.<\/p>\n
I hope you know that just because you\u2019re not here, that doesn\u2019t mean that we won\u2019t be celebrating you. You\u2019ve been in Heaven for 75 days now and not a day has gone by that we haven\u2019t celebrated your greatness. Each day looks a bit different. Some are just really hard and are filled with a lot of tears. It took me a couple of months, but I\u2019ve recently learned that that\u2019s okay and to embrace those days.<\/p>\n
One thing that surprises me a bit, and that I think you\u2019ll be pleased to know, that many days see lots of laughter. Yep, despite what some people think, we still laugh. Maybe not quite as hard as we used to, because, well, I\u2019m not as funny as you and the kids don\u2019t get a kick out of me like they did you. But we still laugh. And we laugh often. And I know that makes you so happy.<\/p>\n
We talk about you a lot. We tell stories about mommy and all the fun things that she did when she was here. We\u2019ve come to the realization that on most days, you were the \u2018fun\u2019 in this family, and without you around we have to work a bit harder to entertain ourselves. You were for sure our entertainer. And that\u2019s one of the million reasons we miss the heck out of you.<\/p>\n
I just hope you know that I\u2019m trying my best each day to be better. I gave up on the idea that I could ever be as good as you were. I just can\u2019t. I\u2019m not sure anyone can. You were the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), and that\u2019s a lot to live up to. I mean, if you can\u2019t be the GOAT, you may as well marry her. And that\u2019s exactly what I did.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to be a better listener because you were so good at listening to the kids tell their endless stories, even when what they were talking about had no point or was super boring.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to be a better dancer because you were such a good dance partner for Cooper. So far, she hasn\u2019t been impressed with my moves, but I think we are getting somewhere and with a little more practice, I don\u2019t think she will be embarrassed by me anymore.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to be a better cuddler because you were the best cuddler that Macklin could ever dream of having. As you know, that\u2019s not my thing. I\u2019ve always been the one that when it\u2019s time to sleep, I like to sleep and don\u2019t care to be touched. Macklin doesn\u2019t know that. I haven\u2019t filled him in on that. And I\u2019ve done my best to play your part there. I\u2019m not doing as well as you did. I tend to push him away when his foot hits my face. But I\u2019m working on it and eventually I\u2019ll embrace the foot in the face. Maybe.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to \u2018nerd out\u2019 more with Hadley and to be more excited about her rock collections and her science experiments. It\u2019s just that some of those experiments are such a mess and so much to clean up. Yet, you never complained about them. You encouraged her the entire time. And then you cleaned up her mess when she was done. Every single time.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to be a better friend. When you went to Heaven, a lot of people lost their best friend. I\u2019ve never known someone to have so many best friends. I can\u2019t fill the role that you held for all of them, but I\u2019m doing my best to love them all and love them well. I don\u2019t think they expect much from me, so I think we are doing okay there. But man, they sure do miss you.<\/p>\n
I just wanted to make sure you know that even though you\u2019re gone, today is about you. Today is about finding ways to give you the things you asked for, even after you\u2019ve passed. You wouldn\u2019t believe how many people that didn\u2019t even know you are celebrating you today. We even made these cool shirts that say, \u2018Love Like Rachel,\u2019 and there are about 1,000 people wearing them today. It\u2019s amazing. So many of them have never even met you. Everyone is honoring you today. People are striving today, and every day, to love people more like you did.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I want to reassure you of something quickly. You had two big fears when you got sick and especially when we got the news that you weren\u2019t going to get better:<\/p>\n
1.People would lose their hope and their faith in Jesus. I just want you to know that didn\u2019t happen. Not even close. Girl, the way you did life, even when you knew you were going to die, led so many people to Him. People that never knew Him now know Him. People that had strayed away from Him, have come back to Him. People that thought they knew Him know Him even more today because of you. You did so well Rachel. Gosh, you did so dang well.<\/p>\n
2.Was that myself and the kids would be taken care of. I just want you to know that we are so loved. And that not a moment goes by in our day where we don\u2019t feel that. No one has tried to fill your roll. No one can love us the way that you did. But people are loving us so well. I want you to know that we are okay. And just recently I realized that it\u2019s okay to be okay. For a while, I thought there was something wrong with that. That I wasn\u2019t supposed to be okay this soon. But then I realized that that\u2019s all you wanted for us. To be okay.<\/p>\n
Today is about celebrating everything that made you special and so deeply loved. But the truth is, today is hard. It\u2019s so hard not having you here. It\u2019s not the same without you here. We miss you so much. But today isn\u2019t about us, it\u2019s about you and we are going to celebrate and celebrate big.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
I must mention that there is one small problem. We aren\u2019t really allowed to be around people right now. There is this pandemic thing going on. Yep, right after you went to be with Jesus, the entire country shut down. It\u2019s the strangest thing. I wish you could see what\u2019s happening. I\u2019d love your take on it all.<\/p>\n
Everyone is wearing masks if they go anywhere. Most people are being forced to stay at home. There is no school. Yep, that\u2019s right. The kids haven\u2019t been to school since mid-March. I think I\u2019m supposed to be teaching them from home but that\u2019s not happening. So, they may get held back. Who knows? There is no church. As in, there are no services on Sundays. But as you know, the Church doesn\u2019t need a building to happen. There are no sports. Yep, no baseball. I think your dad is taking that one kinda hard. I know that I am. There really is no anything. It\u2019s so weird.<\/p>\n
And of course, half the world thinks we should open back up and start partying in big ole groups, while the other half thinks we should stay inside for the next two years and not even make eye contact with our immediate family. I\u2019m not sure who is right. I\u2019m thinking probably somewhere in the middle. But you wouldn\u2019t like it very much because you aren\u2019t even allowed to hug people unless they live with you. We all know that just wouldn\u2019t fly with you.<\/p>\n
All that to say, I just need you to know that we will try our hardest to be joyful today, for you. We will look at pictures of you. We will talk about how incredible you were. We will share stories of all the times that made us laugh, times that surprised us, and times that we\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll gather together today. Not a bunch of us together like we\u2019d like to, but hundreds of small gatherings, across the world, will come together and honor you. I hope you can see us. I think you can. I sure hope you can. You\u2019ll see that you aren\u2019t forgotten. That you\u2019ll never be forgotten. That we will never forget your love, your kindness, your generosity, your patience, your hugs, your beauty, and your grace.<\/p>\n
Selfishly, I hope we all feel your presence today. I\u2019m pretty sure we will. It\u2019s rare that a day goes by that we don\u2019t. But on the really \u2018important days,\u2019 like today, I find myself searching for you, even more than usual.<\/p>\n
Rachel, you did what so many people spend their entire lives trying to do, yet never accomplish. And you did it in less than 39 years. You made the world a better place. Not just when you were here, but even now, after you\u2019re gone. The ripple effect that your life has had is something only seen in the movies. Until now. Until you.<\/p>\n
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Rach. I really hope that you\u2019re dancing up there today. I bet you are. And I hope that all the love and the birthday wishes from down here make it up to you. I think they will. I\u2019m pretty sure they will.<\/p>\n
We love you. We miss you. And things just aren\u2019t the same down here without you. But you\u2019ll be so pleased to know that we are all doing our best to love just like you loved. #lovelikerachel<\/p>\n
Love,<\/p>\n
Me\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cDear Rachel, Today is your birthday. I know you know that already, but I\u2019m just down here reminding the rest of the world. You did<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4053,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4048\/revisions\/4053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}