@callette.brady: sometimes i look out into the backyard and it doesn’t look the way it used to. the sun isn’t as bright. the grass isn’t as neon. there is no trampoline. and somehow i can still see us there. two little girls… running through the grass laughing until our stomachs hurt jumping until the sun went down never thinking about the day when we’d look back and wish we could be there again. we didn’t know we were living in the days we’d someday miss. we thought there would always be another summer. another afternoon. another night where we were little and everything felt simple. but time kept moving even when we weren’t paying attention. and now you’re growing up. in a year you’ll be leaving for college and starting a life that is completely yours. i’m so proud of you. you did it. but sometimes i wish we could’ve grown up together just a little longer. i wish we could go back to that backyard just once. not forever. just long enough to hear our younger selves laughing again and feel the warmth of that sun before it all became a memory. because i know we’ll make new memories. i know there are so many beautiful things waiting for us. but we’ll never be those girls again. we’ll never stand in that backyard for the first time. we’ll never have those summers again. we’ll never know what it felt like to be that young with our whole lives still ahead of us. and maybe that’s what growing up is. learning that some moments don’t feel like goodbye until they’re already gone. so if you ever miss home or miss being little or miss the life we had before everything changed i hope you remember this: there was a time when the sun felt brighter, the grass looked greener, the days felt endless, and i was right there with you. i love you sister. and no matter how far life takes you, a part of me will always be in that backyard with you. 🤍 @LB
