it caught me off guard as i turned onto the highway that used to take me past the rolling hills towards your beach side home
to chats and cuppas and biscuits already baked for afternoon tea and we would play our favorite game.
you’d remember the details of all the things that i’d relayed before, your mind still sharp in spite of age and because you truly cared.
and yesterday, i was unprepared for how much it twisted in my chest. then memories flooded in bittersweet
as the sun peeked through the clouds highlighting crimson and amber leaves and the green, green grass of rolling hills.
—Grief can be a visitor that catches us unexpected and unprepared. But grief is not always about the loss of a person, it might be the loss of something rather than someone. Like safety, connection, a community, a way of life or even our peace. Regardless, all grief matters and needs to be felt. Unfortunately, there is just no other way.
Heather Pound 