Four years. That’s how long it has been since Levi’s mother last held him in her arms, kissed his chubby cheeks, whispered “I love you” into his ear, and felt the stillness of his final breath. Four years since her heart shattered in a way that could never truly heal.
Levi’s life lasted just 119 days, all of them spent inside the walls of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. He never saw his nursery, never felt the warmth of the sun on his face, never breathed air outside hospital walls. His parents never got to bring him home. But he was here. He was real. And in his short life, he changed everything.
He was small, fragile in body but enormous in spirit. Wrapped in buffalo-print blankets and tangled in tubes and wires, Levi fought with a strength that amazed every nurse, every doctor, and every soul who came near him. His courage gave his family lessons no book could ever teach: that love is fierce, that love holds on, and that sometimes, love means letting go.
His mother still misses him—not only on anniversaries but in the ordinary, quiet moments of every day. She misses the boy he would have grown into, the laughter she never got to hear, the milestones they never reached together. She misses a life imagined, a future cut short.
And yet, Levi’s presence remains. He is in the sunlight that streams through the window, in every buffalo that crosses her path, in both the ache of loss and the depth of love. Because love like this does not end. It lingers, steady and unshakable, even when arms are empty.
Levi’s impact continues to ripple outward. Through Levi’s Legacy, the foundation created in his memory, his story now lights the path for families walking the same stormy road. His mother pours every ounce of the love she couldn’t give him into helping others. His life, though brief, is still making a difference in the world.
She carries him in her heart every single day. He made her braver. He made her stronger. He made her more. And while she would give anything for one more moment with him, she treasures the time they had—even if it was far too short.
“Four years without you feels like forever and a second, all at once,” she writes. And every year, this day reminds her of one unshakable truth: they are one year closer to being together again.
Her words close the way they always do—with a love that transcends time, distance, and even death: