Caylee's Third Birthday Today - 8/9/08

I was hoping that I didn't have to bring forward today the "counting of days" Caylee is missing. But I have no choice today, even though it is Caylee's Third Birthday.

I am going to light a candle for you today, a vanilla scented candle, so I can smell the sweetness in the air around me as I think of you somewhere out there.

As I light the candle for you, I will say: I pray that on this day, when you were born 3 years ago, your "Mommy" will remember all the pain she felt through laboring to bring you into this world.

I will pray that your Mommy remembers what it felt like deep within her heart, the joy of holding you for the first time. I will pray, your Mommy remembers, your first smile, your first clutch of her fingers, the first time you called her "Mommy" and all the daily first's you have done in the 34 months before you went missing. I also pray your mother rememebers her last moment with you, on whatever day it may have been. I pray this moment is engraved in her heart as much as the feeling on the day you were born.

I so want to have ballons, and gift graphics all around your picture as a birthday is a joyous occasion, but I just can't because you are still missing.

Your Mommy brought you into this world 36 months ago, and it is only your Mommy that can bring you back home again.