Some dates hit differently after loss. This was one of them.
July 4th would have been Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's 44th wedding anniversary. They had married in Maui, Hawaii in 1982 — a love story that survived decades of chaos, illness, and everything the music industry could throw at a family. Ozzy passed away last July at 76, just two weeks after performing a farewell concert in his hometown of Birmingham.
This year the date arrived without him.
Kelly Osbourne, 41, spent the day at her father's grave, laying a large bunch of flowers at the place where he was buried — close to the lake on the family's private estate in Buckinghamshire. Then she sat down and wrote her mother a letter.
She posted it on Instagram for the world to read.
In it she told Sharon that love like theirs does not end when a life does — it simply changes shape. That Ozzy would still be walking with her even if he could no longer walk beside her. That the lifetime they built together could never be erased by death.
She wrote about her son Sidney, three — Ozzy's grandchild who will grow up knowing his grandfather only through the stories his family tells. She promised Sharon that neither of them would walk through any of the firsts alone. Not the anniversaries. Not the birthdays. Not the Christmases that now feel different.
The letter ended with words that have stayed with a lot of people since she posted it.
"Happy Anniversary to a love story that even heaven could never end."