Ellie

I should be going to a birthday party today, but I can't. Ellie, my only daughter, should be fourteen years old today, but she didn't make it past nine days old. She died of a previously undetected and rare heart defect (they told me it affects less than one in a million). One minute I was the proud father of a beautiful baby girl and the next I'm in a state of bewilderment that I still haven't quite resolved.

On this day each year, I make a special effort to tell someone that today is Ellie's birthday. She wasn't here long enough to make many friends, and I feel that if I don't tell somebody then it won't be long before her life is entirely forgotten. It may not make sense, but in a way doing this is one of the very few things I feel that I have left of her.

So, today there are no jokes, no silly stories or no tie-ins to FWSW. I'm just trying to make it to tomorrow. Thank you for listening.