Haley Marie Conroy

For Haley

We were just kids once,
laughing down middle school halls
that smelled like pencil shavings and rain.
You in your black-on-black Chucks,
me beside you,
trying to match your easy kind of joy.

You were the kind of funny
that made silence impossible,
the kind of kind
that made people feel safe.
We had our own word -
"fawwshaaaww."
It meant hello,
it meant you´re here,
it meant we were seen.

Life pulled us in different directions,
as it always does -
different schools,
different dreams,
different worlds.
But sometimes,
I still hear your laugh,
like sunlight slipping through memory.

You grew into everything good -
a wife,
a mother,
a teacher´s aide with a heart wide open.
You worked hard,
loved harder,
and carried so much light
without ever asking for praise.

And when you left this world,
it wasn´t just unexpected -
it was unfair.
You had more love to give,
more moments to make.

But maybe you´re still here,
in your son´s smile,
in a whisper of laughter
that sounds too familiar to ignore.
Maybe every "fawwshaaaww"
is you saying hi.

I wish we had stayed friends.
I wish I remembered more.
But I remember enough to miss you -
enough to know
you were one of the good ones.

And you still are.
Somewhere,
still laughing.
Still light.

My beautiful granddaughter, I am not sure how to be without you. Love You Forever Grammy

Haley girly,
I miss you sooo much!
Love you, Nette