07/06/2026
Today would have been my Dad’s birthday.
I miss my Dad every day, but on days like today, his absence feels a little closer.
I can’t help imagining how different today might have looked if he were here. There would have been a big family BBQ, Dad at the centre of it all, laughing, chatting, taking charge of the food and blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.
Instead, life carries on and the world returns to ‘normal’.
Grief will never be something to get over, but something we learn to carry.
In grief, I always come back to hope. Not the kind of hope that pretends everything is fine. Not the kind that asks us to move on.
The quieter kind.
The kind that helps us keep showing up.
The kind that reminds us there can still be joy alongside sadness, laughter alongside loss, and meaning alongside all the things we wish had been different.
The possibility that life can still hold something beautiful, even when someone we love is no longer here to share it with us.
Happy Birthday, Dad ❤️