March 29, 2026: Happy Birthday in heaven, Greg.

Happy Birthday in heaven, Greg.

Today you would have been 56. Instead of planning a dinner or blowing out candles, I’m sitting with the quiet reality that it has been 177 days since you’ve been gone and 189 days since I last heard your voice. The world feels a lot emptier without you in it, and I miss you more than words can ever truly capture.

I’ve been thinking so much lately about where it all started. Back in the fall of 1994, when your sister Amy set us up on that blind double date, I had no idea that night would change the rest of my life. I am so grateful I got to be by your side for 30 of your birthdays. Every one of those years was a gift.

Those three decades taught us so much about what actually lasts. I still cherish the engraved wood sign you made for our bedroom—the one you surprised me with after asking me to write our initials on a piece of paper. Seeing my own handwriting carved by your hands into that wood is such a tangible reminder that at the end of our lives, the material things don’t matter. What matters is that "I had You, and You had Me."

I have to smile when I picture how you’re spending today. I can almost see you, Stacey, Tiffany, LaNell, Andy, our Dads, and many more all celebrating together—probably causing some kind of hilarious chaos & you making others laugh like you always did. I’m sure all of you are having a fantastic heavenly birthday party that is definitely more amazing than anything we could have planned here.

You would have been so humbled by what happened this month. The Marshall Area Chamber honored you with the inaugural Greg Keller Distinguished Citizen Memorial Award. It was the most beautiful heavenly birthday gift for our family, and it gave us the chance to see exactly what it looks like when a lifetime of "planting seeds" finally blooms. You never looked for credit, but this community sure knew your heart.

It hurts that you aren't here for all the big things happening this spring. Elliott is turning one and took his first steps on the 25th, and Adelyn is turning 6 and reading so well! I can almost see the beam on your face as you watch them. I see so much of you in Wyatt and Avery every day, too—from Wyatt stepping up to help me with your same steady skills, to Avery leading her sorority with your quiet strength. My greatest wish is that they, and our grandchildren, continue to grow the garden you started.

In the decades we shared, I’ve held many roles and answered to many titles—daughter, sister, momma, wife, aunt, neighbor, friend, and Grammy. But of all the names I’ve carried, "Widow" is my least favorite. It’s a title I never asked for and one that often makes me feel adrift. Yet, I know the only reason I have that title now is because I held the best one first: I was your wife.

I’m holding onto the memories of all those birthdays we shared until I get to see you again. Happy Birthday in heaven, Greg. Your legacy is in the best of hands.

I love you, FOREVER.

To honor Greg today: I encourage you to do something kind for someone else. He proved that a life of service isn’t about the big gestures, but the small, steady ways we show up for each other every day. Keep planting those seeds.