Because I had Melissa.
When Jenna died, our daughter was only four years old.
She is now six years old and growing into an incredibly kind and cheerful little girl. Sometimes she smiles just like her mother, and in those moments, my heart fills with joy and sadness.
Since then, we have lived alone.
I work as a heating and air conditioning repair technician. It is an honest job, but the money is not much. Most of my salary is immediately lost in bills.
Sometimes I feel like they arrive faster than I can pay for them.
Some nights I sit at the kitchen table and spread out the envelopes of bills, trying to figure out which ones can wait another week.
But despite all this, Melissa never complains.
She knows how to find joy in the simplest things.
Continued on the next page
One afternoon he ran home from kindergarten so fast that his backpack bounced on his back.
—Dad! Guess what!
I smiled.
-What happened?
She was beaming with joy.
—There will be a graduation ceremony at the kindergarten! Next Friday!
