I’m not quite sure who needs or wants to read this, but if you find yourself pausing, as you scroll, here’s why I write. I’m not an expert or a professional. I am just a normal everyday person going through the motions of this incredibly difficult journey. Grief. Five little letters that don’t begin to capture the big feelings of the word itself. What I experience is mine, yours is yours, but it really helps to know you’re not alone. You don’t wish the sadness, pain or emptiness on anyone, but knowing the feelings are not abnormal may give you some relief. As I approach my first year without my mom, I will say, it doesn’t seem to be getting easier. It actually feels harder as the reality sets in. There’s been a shift that I never saw coming. I have never once picked up the phone to call her, only to remember she isn’t here. I am painfully aware she’s gone. I crave her voice, her laugh, the warmth of her hug that brings me back to childhood. I remember sitting on my friend’s couch l...
