WHAT WE CARRY

Loss and What Came After

After someone is gone, ordinary things can feel different. A chair stays empty. A song comes on. A birthday arrives.

Loss is not only death. People may lose a home, a job, a relationship, a dream, or a life they expected to have.

Some want to talk about what happened. Others remember through food, music, photographs, or quiet routines. There is no required way to remember.

What came after may still be unfolding. That part of the story matters too.

A person may reach for their phone before remembering there is nobody to call. Another may find comfort in making a familiar meal. Someone else may feel a surprising sense of relief when a long, difficult chapter ends.

There is no timetable for what people keep, give away, or begin again. One person wants photographs nearby. Another needs them put away for a while. Both are allowed their own way of moving through the days.