Dear Tom and Leena,

First of all, Tom, I love you and I miss you so much. A lot has happened since you’ve left us and I think about you every day. I just want to thank you for encouraging me to come back to school and to live a life of true purpose. You have always been my inspiration and my rock, and for that, I am so grateful. I promise to continue to grow as a person and to always stay passionate and active in what I care most about; this beautiful Earth which we are so lucky to call our home. I wish you could see how much I have grown in the year since you’ve passed away. Not only have I delved completely into my studies, but I’ve even started volunteering with the local park service. Because you know me so well, I know that you would be so proud of me for overcoming my depression and anxiety. Moving forward, I want to always continue to make positive changes in the world. Literally, everything I do, I will be thinking of you looking down on me, with all the positive vibes in the world. You were the one person who “got me”, and I will always remember fondly our talks at midnight which lasted for hours. I was once scared of the future, but I’m learning to be more and more optimistic. There might be a lot of bad in this world, but I refuse to give up and let the forces of evil win this fight. This is my promise to you.

And to my beautiful niece, Leena; you are literally the future. You are the smartest, most brave little girl I have ever met. The world needs more amazing people like you. I’m so sorry that your Daddy had to leave you so soon, but I know that he loves you more than anything and is so proud of you. We all are. All I want is to help make this world a better place for you. Your love for animals is so beautiful, and I know how important it is that those same animals are still around when you’re my age. The world can sometimes seem big and frightening, but with your courage and strength, you can overcome anything. I wish I could take all the pain that you and your Mommy feel and bury it within myself. But since I can’t, I vow to always fight for a future that will continue to inspire you. I want you to only see the beauty in this world; there is so much of it and I will protect this beauty for as long as I am here on this Earth.

I love you two so much, my guardian angels, always.