Months After My 4-Year-Old Daughter Died, I Saw a Man in a Chicken Costume – When He Turned, My Blood Went Cold

But today was different.

Today, I found myself at the winter festival we used to go to together.

I know what you’re thinking.

Why would I do that to myself?

I asked myself the same question as I drove there.

But Maddie had loved this festival. She’d loved the pink balloons, the cotton candy, and the live music that drifted through the cold air.

I thought maybe seeing it again, touching a memory of her, could ease the ache just a little.

Or maybe I was just desperate enough to try anything.

I walked slowly through the crowd, wrapped tight in my coat. My eyes kept scanning every small hand I passed, every excited child, every laugh I hadn’t heard in months.

And then my heart nearly stopped.

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