Chapter Text
July 29th, 2025
Mom,
My therapist told me to write a letter to you. It’s stupid, really. You can’t read it. You’ll never be able to read it. She said it’ll help my healing; help me to move on and deal with the agony in my chest that has been climbing through my body ever since the day you died.
Three weeks ago I became a dad.
A dad, mom. Can you believe it?
Her name is Luna. Luna Gwyneth after you. Mom, she’s so beautiful. She’s everything and more. She has brought a light to my life, our lives, a light I never knew I needed until the second she cried for the first time.
She saved me. In the most beautiful way.
She made everything make sense. Every deep dark fear, every scar on my body, every painful memory disappeared the moment she was born.
She has the most beautiful eyes; eyes that I stare into and realize I have a purpose in this world. I get to raise this beautiful girl; this sweet, innocent, tiny little girl who depends on me for just about everything.
I get to love and protect this tiny human, this living breathing human, for the rest of my life.
Maybe that’s a little bit terrifying.
I never realized how life changing becoming a parent was going to be. Is that how you felt when you held me for the first time? An overwhelming and breathtaking amount of love that almost sets your heart on fire and knocks the air right out of your lungs?
Because I feel it.
I feel that love every day.
I feel it through my daughter, but I also feel it through you. I hold her and remember the time you held me for two hours straight because I was upset that Jackson Williams from two blocks away didn’t invite me to his birthday party but invited every other kid in our neighbourhood.
I feel it through the two am wake up calls when I hold Luna in my arms and sing every lullaby to her that you ever sung to me.
I remember every melody, Mom.
Every single one.
And I want her to remember those melodies too.
I want her to somehow remember the person she never got to meet.
I want her to remember your kindness; your love, your support, the way your smile could make everything better. Make it less broken.
I swear with every part of me that I’ll never forget.
Not even for a moment.
Your boy,
Tyler Kennedy