Meredith Gaudreau said she’s “one year closer to seeing” her late husband Johnny Gaudreau on the first anniversary of his death.

Meredith, who welcomed her third child with her late husband on April 1, posted a heartfelt tribute to Johnny on Aug. 29, the first anniversary of when Johnny, 31, and his brother Matthew Gaudreau, 29, were killed last August when an alleged drunk driver crashed into them while they were riding bicycles the day before their sister Katie Gaudreau‘s wedding.

“I have the best husband,” Meredith wrote in an emotional tribute on her Instagram Stories on Friday. “One year closer to seeing you again and being with you forever. Forever for real.”

Meredith shared a tribute video to Johnny originally posted by his former Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team and the NHL. Under the video, Meredith wrote that for her Aug. 29 reminds her not of the anniversary of his death, but what the day originally meant to the two of them — the anniversary of their engagement, on Aug. 29, 2020.

“8/29 is a reminder of what forever means to me,” Meredith wrote. “I love you.”

Johnny and Meredith Gaudreau via Instagram.

Meredith Gaudreau/Instagram

The mother of three revealed her plans to spend the anniversary with her children and sister-in-law Madeline Gaudreau in a profile with The Athletic on Aug. 27. Meredith shared that they planned to spend the day at the Jersey Shore creating new memories.

In June, Meredith detailed in a Player’s Tribune essay the “awful” and “indescribable” moment she learned that her husband and her brother-in-law were killed last August — exactly four years after the star hockey forward got down on one knee and proposed near their families’ homes in Avalon, New Jersey.

Meredith said Johnny made breakfast for their daughter Noa, 2, and son Johnny, 1, on the morning of the tragedy before packing their car for his sister Katie’s wedding the next day. “It was going to be a great day,” she wrote in the essay, adding, “You kissed all of us goodbye and said you’d see us later. And that was that.”

Then, Meredith recalled, there was a worried call from Johnny’s sister telling her “something had happened but she didn’t know what exactly.”

“My dad drove me over to your parents’, and I was thinking the whole time about how I was going to help you through whatever it could be that had happened to Matty,” Meredith wrote. “And then I walked up the front porch and learned the absolute worst had happened and that it was both of you.”

Johnny and Meredith Gaudreau via Instagram.

Columbus Blue Jackets/Instagram

“I was in shock,” she recalled. “I was keeled over for days sick to my stomach. It’s completely indescribable. The only person who can relate to me is my own sister-in-law. I see her and my heart breaks for her. I’m sick for her. We had just celebrated their gender reveal. We were all just down the shore together and had so much fun. Matty made me laugh so much that weekend.”

Meredith — who was just a few weeks pregnant at the time with their third child — added that she “thought of our baby inside of me” after learning the news.

“I couldn’t stand up. I was awake and having nightmares. Thinking of you in that moment. Thinking of Matty. It’s just the worst thing I could have ever imagined. And in an instant, I missed you more than I knew was possible. And I haven’t stopped missing you since. That feeling never goes away. I’m so sorry. I love you so much. I miss you every second of every day. I miss you more and more every day as well. My love grows deeper for you each day too.”