Nine Years Without You, and Then a Butterfly

Today marks nine years without you, Grandma. Nine years without the road trips up north to visit. Nine years without hearing your voice on the other end of the line. Nine years without the comfort of knowing you were there.

Grief sometimes has a way of pulling our gaze into the rearview mirror, doesn’t it? The what ifs, the woulda, shoulda, couldas. So many moments we wish we could replay or rewrite.

We’re not meant to live in the rearview though, are we? Eventually, we must shift our focus back to the present with grace and look forward to navigate the road ahead.

Nine years may have passed without you, but comfort found me in this butterfly sighting reminding me that you’re still with us…just in a new way.

Miss you always, Grandma.

Love you much.🦋

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Journal prompt for your own reflection:

Reflect on a moment when comfort showed up in an unexpected form. What did it offer you about looking back, presence, memory, or moving forward?