There was one photograph we kept on our refrigerator.
It was from Emma's eighth birthday.
She was standing between Ryan and Travis.
Her arms were around both of them.
All three were smiling.
Underneath the photograph, Emma had written in crooked handwriting:
"The people who walk me home."
I kept it there for years.
Because it reminded me of something I had nearly forgotten.
Sometimes the people who scare us aren't dangerous.
Sometimes the people we think are taking something from us are actually giving something to the people we love.
And sometimes the person we are most afraid of losing isn't being taken away at all.
They are simply growing.
Ryan had been so afraid that Emma would need someone else that he almost forgot something important:
A child doesn't love her father less because she loves another person too.
Love isn't a pie.
You don't get a smaller piece because someone else gets a slice.
There was always room for more.
And Emma had taught all of us that.