Every year the month of July is designated as Bereaved Parents Awareness Month. There was a time in my life when I never knew such a thing existed. However, now, as a parent who has a child who ran ahead to heaven, I’m all too painfully aware.

Hold your memories close. Treasure each one. Spend time with the people you love while you still can.

This week marks Melanie’s 6th birthday in Heaven. Another birthday, another year gone by without her. Is it easier? In some ways, yes. I no longer feel the extreme heaviness of grief that I felt in the earlier years, but it’s still hard. The missing never ends and I never expect it will.

Even though this journey has been the hardest thing I’ve ever walked through, there comes a time when we can choose joy and remember the love more than the loss. Choosing joy means finding moments of happiness in the midst of sorrow, whether it’s a shared memory, or a comforting word. Remembering the love more than the loss involves focusing on the positive impact Melanie had on my life and the lives of others, rather than the pain of her absence.