July 30

Tomorrow is Logan's birthday. He should be here with us, making enthusiastic plans for celebrating the big number seven. But he's not. At least, not in a way that we can feel and see and touch and hear him.

But that doesn't mean we won't celebrate his day anyway, because we will. There will be mixed emotions and probably a lot of tears, some hidden and some freely displayed. And I'm hoping that we'll manage to laugh together, too. If only for a little while.

I got a little pre-birthday laugh/cry when I got this in the mail from Kelly, the preschool director.

I don't know if she felt any misgivings about sending a tangible card. But I can tell you something: I'm so grateful that she did. It's an enormous blessing to me that someone remembered and sent a physical card, even though he's not here to see it or to fill the poster inside with beautiful swirls of color.

It's still so painful to celebrate without him. But gestures like this ease the ache, if only just a little bit.