Tag: grief

A surprisingly heavy echo

I’m still deleting emails. It hasn’t gotten old yet. This quiet excavation of a life lived in subject lines and timestamps. Somewhere between “no longer relevant” and “why did I save this,” I keep brushing up against memory. Not the dramatic kind. The soft, ambient kind that hums […]

Grief Without Ownership

There should really be a punch card for grief by now. Ten losses and you get a free latte, a brief reprieve, a coupon for “emotional stability, one day only.” I would have redeemed mine several lifetimes ago. I have lost in all the traditional ways. The kinds […]

Light Under the Door

I live in a housefull of heartbeat and voices,laughter ricocheting off walls,footsteps tapping rhythms up and down stairs. And yetthere are nightswhen the noise dissolvesand I am alonein a room packed with people. It’s strange, right?To feel invisiblewhile standing center stagein your own life. Pain has a way […]

A Quieter Kind of Joy

I chose joy as my word many years ago. And it mattered. At the time, joy felt like something to fight for. To protect. To defend from people and circumstances that were very willing to take it. But joy changes. Especially in January. January is not a neutral […]

Before the Sun Rose

Way before the sun rose,I looked out beyond the treesand the gray mist, soft and merciless,wrapped around everything.A quiet reminder that some absencesnever really leave,they just learn to settle in the cornersof our breath. I didn’t realize how much it would hurt.How much I would missthe feelings that […]