Dear Lucas Martino,
Eleven years have passed since you left us, and somehow, it still feels like yesterday. There are moments when I can almost hear your voice, see your smile, or imagine you walking through the door—and for a brief moment, it feels as though you are still here with us.
You
would be 27 years old today. It is hard
not to wonder what you would be like, what you would be doing, the people you
would have met, and the dreams you would have made your own. There are so many things I wish I could have
shared with you.
Your
family misses you more than words can ever express. Your friends miss you, too. Eleven years have passed, but your absence has
never become ordinary. You are
remembered not simply because you left us, but because you were—and always will
be—a deeply loved part of our lives.
Lucas
Martino, you are carried with me every day. In my memories, in my conversations, in the
quiet moments when I think of you, and in the love that time cannot diminish.
If
love alone could have kept you here, you would have lived forever.
I miss you as though you left yesterday.
I love you as though you were still beside us.
And I
will carry you in my heart for all the days of my life, as I carry Alicia, your
mom, in every second of my existence.
With
all my love,
Your father