You used to spend every summer day with me when I was 8-years-old. You would watch your favorite show on the television in the living room, while I would play loud and rowdy games with my brothers in the next room over. Every day you would yell to me from the living room, “Ally, are you happy?”

You didn’t care what I was doing or what trouble I was most likely causing, you just cared if I was happy while doing it.

Every time that I find myself thinking about you, I can hear your voice so perfectly in the back of my mind asking that same question, “Ally, are you happy?”

It’s funny how once they are gone, you would give anything to go back to just a normal, not-so-special day like that.

Losing someone important is never easy, but it makes you feel lucky to have had somebody in your life that you loved so much that they made it so hard to say goodbye. It also makes you realize that “goodbye” doesn’t always mean forever, sometimes the next “hello” comes a lot sooner than you would think.

They fly on the wings of their favorite birds that visit your front porch early in the morning, and as long as there is someone around to sing their old favorite song, they will always be singing along too.

They live on the other side of the rainbow that fills the sky after every storm, and it is their love for their favorite flowers that keep them blooming in your yard, year after year.

Somebody told me once that the stars that light up the night sky are windows looking out of heaven. And while you are looking up at them, wishing that your lost loved ones are safe, healthy, and happy, maybe they are looking down on you through those same stars, wishing you the same things.

Now, I look up at the night sky more often. I stop to admire the flowers on sidewalks, and I make sure to always keep the bird feeders full. I stopped running away from storms because I knew every minute that passed was another minute closer to the rainbow at the end, another minute closer to seeing a glimpse of you.

I wish I could have just one more day with you to tell you everything that has happened since you’ve been gone, but I don’t have any doubt that you already know. I wish I could see your smile again, and hug you a little longer than I did the last time. I wish I could tell you how much that we all love you down here.