He would be 18 today...

My brother James, that is. My mom had James when I was 7 years old, and he came three weeks early - seemingly the picture of health. After a short while the doctors realised something was wrong and whisked him away for tests. They found out he had a serious heart defect that would require open heart surgery when he was a fragile two weeks old. He died on the operating table that day, but in his two weeks of life he was loved and held, sung to and rocked by his mom and dad and sisters.

It's best not to try to understand why things like this happen, but to hope that one day we'll meet again in a better place.

Happy Birthday, little angel!