Happy 63rd Birthday!
I Will Always Love You!
Today marks his 63rd birthday — the fifth one we're celebrating with him in Heaven. This day brings a bittersweet mix of emotions: love and grief, happiness and sadness, longing and gratitude. It is yet another day that I hold close to my heart, a day that reminds me of the love and joy that he brought into my life, and the ache of his absence.
Birthdays were always special in our home. He wasn’t one for grand parties, but he loved being surrounded by family, enjoying laughter, good food, and simple moments of togetherness. I remember the sparkle in his eyes when he opened a heartfelt card, the way he’d laugh at a silly joke, and the warmth of his presence filling the room. Those memories are treasures now, reminders of a love that still lives on.
But as much as birthdays are about celebration, they are also about presence. And that is what makes today so hard. I can’t bake his favorite pie (yes, we'd stick candles in a pie - He preferred it.) or hear his voice in the laughter of a shared memory. I can’t watch him blow out candles or hold his hand. Instead, I celebrate in a different way—one that bridges the space between earth and heaven.
I find comfort in the knowledge that he is experiencing a joy beyond anything I can imagine, a celebration far greater than anything we could have planned here. He is in the presence of God, where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more goodbyes. That truth brings me some peace, even as the ache of missing him remains.
Grief and love go hand in hand. If I didn’t love him so deeply, I wouldn’t grieve him so much. But today, I choose to focus on the love. I will light a candle and eat birthday pie in his honor and say a prayer of gratitude for the years we had together. I will find joy in the stories we shared, in the lessons he left behind, in the way he continues to shape my life even in his absence.
His birthday is a reminder that though he is gone from this world, he is never truly gone from my heart. So today, I celebrate him — with love, with tears, with gratitude. Happy birthday in Heaven, my love. You are missed beyond words, loved beyond measure, and remembered always.
I am a school counselor turned counselor educator, professor, and author helping educators and parents to build social, emotional, and academic growth in ALL kids! The school counseling blog delivers both advocacy as well as strategies to help you deliver your best school counseling program.
I'm a mother, grandmother, professor, author, and wife (I'll always be his). Until October 20, 2020, I lived with my husband, Robert (Bob) Rose, in Louisville, Ky. On that awful day of October 20,2020, my life profoundly changed, when this amazing man went on to Heaven. After Bob moved to Heaven, I embraced my love of writing as an outlet for grief. Hence, the Grief Blog is my attempt to share what I learned as a Counselor in education with what I am learning through this experience of walking this earth without him. My mission is to help those in grief move forward to see joy beyond this most painful time.
