A letter

Dear Laura,

I want you to know how much Autumn loves you and misses you. In the van on the way to school today, completely out of the blue, Autumn told me that if she had to choose between going to school (which she LOVES) and having you alive she would choose having you alive. She told me how much she wished you could be alive still. She then went out to express the best that she could as an almost 6-year-old how much you meant to her.

She told me that she would give up gallons and gallons of water, she would give up our van, our house to have you alive still. She said that she would even give up her brand new american girl doll (that she spent months saving for and paid entirely with her own money) the day that it arrived to have you be alive still. She really misses you, and she loves you dearly.

Months and months ago Autumn announced to us that she was going to pray for her uncle Janardan to get better, and she was going to say it in every prayer. When you moved home to Iowa Laura, and were going in and out of hospitals, Autumn added you too. She never forgot to pray for you to get better. The night that you died when she was saying her prayer, she faltered because she always prayed that Janardan and Laura would get better, but she stopped after Janardan, and then prayed that you would be happy in heaven. She has continued to pray for you in every one of her prayers, but now prays for you in heaven.

I hope you are doing well. We love you and miss you terribly.

Emily