news

"I wish I could take all the bullets for you": Parkland victims' mother writes Valentine's letter to her daughter one year on.

 

“#DearAlyssa,” Lori Alhadeff begins her Valentine’s Day letter.

“It’s Valentine’s Day. A day full of love, chocolate and flowers.

“For me, it is more than that now.”

On the morning of Valentine’s Day 2018, Lori gave her daughter, 14-year-old Alyssa, earrings and chocolate.

She remembered Alyssa’s black and white dress, how her hair dangled and her make up looked “just right”.

Alyssa Alhadeff. Image: Facebook.
ADVERTISEMENT

She told her daughter she loved her as she hopped out of the car for school.

That was the last thing she would ever say to her.

Alyssa walked inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

That afternoon, a former student opened fire on students and teachers. Three staff members and 14 students were killed - Alyssa was one of them.

One year on, Lori Alhadeff has shared a letter to her daughter and for Dear World's #DearAlyssa campaign. Reading it - which you can do in full here - is gut-wrenching.

Lori Alhadeff.
Lori Alhadeff. Image: Dear World.
ADVERTISEMENT

As well as the memories, Lori wrote to her daughter about what has happened in the past year: Alyssa's brothers miss her terribly - they even miss fighting with her. Her dad fights for her everyday. Her "grammy" has become a school safety activist.

The family got a dog, Roxy, who likes to kick a soccer ball around just as Alyssa did.

Speaking of soccer, her team wear her jersey number - eight - on their sleeves. They even started wearing it sideways to honour her: "Infinity".

Alyssa Alhadeff
Image: Dear World.
ADVERTISEMENT

Lori wrote about how she has spent the year fighting for policy change. She won a seat on the school county board and started a non-profit called Make Our Schools Safe.

She wrote of the time she screamed words of rage at President Donald Trump on national TV.

"President Trump, you say what can you do? You can stop the guns from getting into these children's hands," she yelled on CNN shortly after the shooting.

"What can you do? You can do a lot. This is not fair to our families, that our children have to go to school and get killed."

In her letter, Lori told her daughter she knew she was gone as soon as someone told her about the shooting. It was her mothers intuition.

Throughout the week of Alyssa's shiva (a week-long mourning period in Judaism), Lori wrote she received so many hugs from people who loved her daughter that she injured her neck: "People, in a sense, loved me until it hurt".

She wrote that although she is overcome by grief, it is this that emboldens her to fight for change.

"I wish I could take all the bullets for you.

"It's been a year since I saw you... It feels like yesterday. I just want you back."