Jacob made me cry pretty hard today. 

A while back, my mom told Jacob that when you see a butterfly, it’s someone from heaven trying to say hello. Today as we got out of the truck after school a huge monarch butterfly came fluttering by us. It was stunning. I drew his attention to it. 

“Do you remember what that means?” I asked him. 

“It’s uncle Riley saying hello!” He chirped. And he chased after it, yelling “uncle Riley! Come here! Uncle Riley! Come back!” 

It was a quick, fleeting moment, and it broke my heart. 

Come back, Riley. I wish you could.