Then came pink flowers for her 18th birthday; red for her 19th; pink and white for her 20th; and finally, different shades of purple for her 21st.
Purple is the color symbolizing awareness for pancreatic cancer, the illness that killed Michael Sellers on Aug. 25, 2013, three months before his daughter’s 17th birthday.
But Michael Sellers had planned ahead, preordering different arrangements from a local flower shop in Maryville, Tennessee, for his youngest daughter’s birthday until she turned 21. He wrote different notes for each arrangement.
“He wanted to make sure that she knew that she was loved, and that he would be there through every milestone,” his widow, Kristi Sellers, told The Washington Post.