To all the fathers...

To all the fathers of children on earth and of children no longer with you, I'm thinking of you.

I'm thinking of the fathers you are regardless of whether your children are with you or not. Being a mother to a child who has died is hard... surely being a father to a child who has died is hard too, even when you keep your thoughts to yourself.

And for those of you with no living children, I'm thinking of the fathers you would have been if your children were living today. The dreams you had, unrealised. The questions of what you were going to do with a baby, unanswered. But also the fathers you still are, in a different, unchosen, way.

And to my own darling husband, Steve, I'm thinking of the beautiful father you are to our daughter, and the way you have come to terms with losing Luca, without losing your love for him.

Here's the picture I'm going to put on your Fathers Day card with the words 'May our family always be planted and tended with love'.

Steve and Eliana planting Luca's memorial garden