It’s still impossible for me to wrap my head around, but it’s been six months since we said goodbye to Flora. She was part of our family for 14 years, through some wonderful and some very hard times. Jane and I have never lived together without her, and her absence in our lives is as fresh a wound today as that first night without her.

I’m so grateful that our children were able to know her, even just for the ten weeks she overlapped with our daughter in this world. Her love for and kindness toward them left an indelible mark on me.

Flora took responsibility for tending to all of us from the very beginning. She held on until she knew we were all going to be ok after our daughter’s arrival, and left us on the night of our tenth wedding anniversary - she was taking care of us right up until the end.

I miss you.