"Look at this one! This just blows me away!" Willy Asprey spreads out a collection of handmade cards a group of third-graders wrote to their "angels." Several wrote to grandparents who have died. One wrote to a pet. One child wrote to his twin.

"Just paper, tape, crayons and the most beautiful little messages you've ever seen out of 8 year-olds," he said. The cards are the beginning of his big idea, a lovely thing that came after a tragedy.

Asprey was 18 years old in 2000 when his girlfriend Dana Ambrose was killed in a car crash by a drunken off-duty police officer.

It took Asprey a long time to work through the initial grief. "We had a relationship that was mature beyond our years," he said. "I thought I was going to marry this girl."

Every year on Dana's birthday, May 28, he takes flowers out to the ocean in her memory.

"I was so grateful to have had love like that at such a young age, and even though the loss was devastating, I vowed to continue living my life the way she would have been proud of — knowing all along that she was now my 'angel'."

The comfort of that act of remembrance and gratitude led to his idea for Angel Day, a sort of school holiday — not a day off, but something like Valentine's Day.

"Kids might take an hour out of the day to write little cards to their 'angels' — living or not — just as a special time to think about the people we feel are watching over us," Asprey said.

Last year, he shared his Angel Day idea with a friend who is a teacher. She didn't tell Asprey she was going to bring the idea to her students, but a few weeks ago, she surprised him with the results of her third-graders' work.

The little cards so moved him that he wants to spread the idea wide. It's just an idea, he says, nothing that would require funding or anything complicated.

"It's not religious. It's individual. It's for you."

Asprey is willing to visit schools to talk about his idea for Angel Day. He hopes next May 28 will be Angel Day all over.

"Death is such an equal and absolute part of life — no matter who you are or where you're from," he said. "I think life should be honored and respected, and I think that those who have passed should be remembered with favorable thoughts. It seems like such a beautiful way to have these young kids think about that — that love and respect can always overcome fear and sadness."