Grief is Every Day

Today is National Grief Awareness Day.

Grief is not a single day. It is every day.

For the grieving, it is there, heavy and dark, challenging our every move, every thought, always. Grief defines our lives, and every moment is about it. And while grief in general is constant, it’s waves are not.

For me, the waters of grief have forever changed the landscape of my body and being. My eyes are tired, but their depth is filled with the lessons of pain and the strength of experience. My face has felt the rawness of wiping away constant tears, and bared the blemishes of stress. My entire body has aged with the permanence of loss. I am not who I was before the day the ground crumbled beneath me, but I am learning how to love all of the forms grief has moulded me into.

I lost a child, and I wear my grief as proudly as I’d wear his hugs.