I am going to break in my story to recognize Ansley’s first birthday.  She was born “sleeping” at 6:15 in the morning March 21, 2011.

Dear Ansley,

I thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new.  
I thought about you yesterday and the day before that too.  
I think of you in silence.  I often say your name.  
But all I have are memories and your picture in a frame.

Your memory is my keepsake, with which I’ll never part.  
God has you in His keeping.  I have you in my heart. 
 I shed tears for what might have been.  A million times I’ve cried.  
If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died.

In life I loved you dearly.  In death I love you still.  
In my heart you hold a place no one can ever fill.  
It broke my heart to lose you but you didn’t go alone  
for part of me went with you, the day God took you home.