To my person in heaven,

You are my guardian angel, my protector, and my driving force to succeed in life.

I could sit here and explain how much I miss you. I could tell of how much I love you and how each and every day I wish you could be here with me.

I could tell of how heart aching it was to lose you, and how you have crossed my mind every day since you left.

How I wish you could see me grow up, sharing the laughs, talks, and memories together.

I could tell you all of the things I have suffered from because of your passing, explaining all the negatives it has caused me in life.

I won’t though, I cannot.

I cannot because that is not how I want to remember you.

I want to remember how eccentric you were, how easily your presence could light up a room. I want to remember how easily your smile could make me smile because it meant that you were happy. But, most of all, I want to remember you for all the great things you did on this earth, rather than the one horrible thing that made you leave it.

I have learned to turn the loss of you into strength.

I have learned to allow it to inspire me, rather than discourage me.

I have learned to grow individually without you, rather than shrink because you’re gone.

I have learned to be more exceptional, rather than mediocre.

Because of your loss, I have learned what it is like to feel immense love, as well as immense pain.

You have showed me what it is like to lose a thing so valuable as life, and for that I have learned to appreciate the life I was given more.

It was assumed that we had forever with you here, that you would never leave our side no matter the circumstance. But that is not the reality to life, and God knows you tried with all you had in you to stay.

For your effort and determination, you have made an everlasting legacy in my heart.

I hope, more than anything, you are happy wherever you may be. I hope that you still have that smile placed upon your face.

Do not worry about the ones you left behind here on earth. It is the bad things in life that allows us to acknowledge the good to its full potential.

In time it will be a hello again, instead of the goodbye we left off with, and that is what keeps me going everyday.

In memory of Denise Marie Richardson, rest easy angel,
XOXO, your daughter