Tenth Birthday

Dear Teddy,

I think congratulations are in order. Today, you have officially been alive for one full decade! I hope you live through many, many more.

So what do we talk about on your tenth birthday? Is it too early for girls? (Call me old fashioned, but I really hope you still think they're icky and stay off them for years yet. Trust me when I say they're not worth the trouble.) (Well, most of the time anyway.)

Actually, for the big number ten, I was hoping to tell you about death.

I'm sure you already know a lot, but I feel like there's some things I should tell you. I believe I was seven years old when I first experienced death. My grandmother, your great one, sadly passed away from an illness and at the time I didn't understand much about what it really meant. After that I encountered death many times during my teenage and early adult years, seen too many funerals to even try to count. Then, I thought I understood death perfectly. Once someone was gone, you'd never see them again, that gone meant gone for ever. It took many more years and tears to discover that I was actually wrong.

A good friend of mine used to say that the ones we loved never really left us and that we could always find them if we looked hard enough, inside of ourselves. Ironically, I didn't realise that he was right until after he died. I was sad at first but then in the weeks following his passing I noticed that he was there, in the ways I said and did things, because while he had been living he pressed himself into different parts of my life. Some of the words I say, most of my bad habits, my happiest memories, were all given to me (in part) from him. So while I live and remember him he lives.

I know that you won't have much recollection of us, Ted, if any at all, but that's okay. You don't need memories to know that we loved and love you. I'm telling you that now. You don't need to remember us to have us live in you. The special thing about you is that you are my son. I will always live inside of you in the same way that my parents do in me, as do my grandparents and all of the people I have known and loved throughout my years. And I will always be there when you need me. I always am there, even if you can't see me, because I love you. All you have to do is look for me and you'll feel me.

Do I need to tell you that there will be another letter waiting for you next year? Until then,

Love you to the full moon and back,

Dad.

A/N: Wow. It's been the better part of a year since i last updated. I'm sorry to all my loyal readers who waited on an update and to all my new ones, thank you so much. I am not lying when i say that reviews brought me back to this site so thank you DracoHermioneForever, jade2nightwing, Teddy R. Lupin, RiverPhoenix, Taya Curragh, listen2music4ever, Laura545, PrincessLazyPants, SingBenihime, tigerlily, whitedove, A.J. Horn and Stiricide. You're all awesome. :)

As you can see, death plays a major part in letter no. 10, mostly i think because i attended a funeral today. Will everyone do something for me? If there's someone at home or around that you care about, let them know that you love them before you go to sleep tonight because there are so many people in the world that would love that opportunity just once more with their loved ones. A hug is always nice too. ^^

That's all i have to say for now. :) I hope to give you good regular updates from now on. :) Thanks for being my inspiration everyone. :)

+ Summer.