For a few years now, I have been writing in this blog each Friday.

I love doing it. 

But there are times when I feel almost selfish.

Times when I get bored with my own words and thoughts. 

I start thinking: 

“ENOUGH ALREADY about ME!!! Im tired of talking about me!!!” 

But that is how writing feels. 

When you are in the moment of writing,

it feels as if you could be connecting with lots of people,

OR,

you could just be talking to yourself,

yelling into a void of nothing. 

You have no way of knowing if anything you are saying 

will connect with someone. 

When you write it, 

you hope it will. 

But when you are done writing it,

you have to just let it go,

and not have any expectations,

and just know that what you wrote

was honest and truthful and from the heart. 

That is what I have tried to do here,

and will continue to do. 

However, 

there are times like today

where I am sick of hearing my own story.

I want to hear yours. 

August 30th, today, is National Grief Awareness Day. 

Apparently,

that is a thing.

The “old me” would not have known about this day,

or given much thought to it. 

The new “post-loss” me knows that grief changes you

and alters you at a cellular level.

So making people “aware” of what grief does

and how it all works

is very important to me. 

Something I have learned 

is that a large part of grieving in a healthy way

includes telling your story. 

Telling the story of the people we love

who have died,

and never being ashamed to keep loving them,

and to keep them as relevant, beautiful pieces of our lives. 

That is how we keep them alive,

in the world, in our hearts, 

and in our minds. 

When we remind others that our love story matters,

we also remind ourselves,

to never be ashamed to talk about it,

to smile and/or shed tears at the thought of it,

and to feel them come back to life for a minute or two,

everytime you share a memory. 

 

So today,

Id love to hear some pieces

of your story,

Dear Readers. 

 

Use the comments,

to share their names, 

the things you miss most about them,

their favorite holiday or movie or musician,

the way they loved you ,

or anything at all that you want the world to know

about what makes your love story special. 

 

Tell me who they were,

and who they are,

and how you have navigated life 

without them here on earth. 

How are you doing?

I would bet that if we could somehow 

ask your person,

who died,

how you are doing,

they would say with a smile: 

“She / he is absolutely amazing,

and I am so proud of them!” 

 

They love us,

and they want us to do well,

they cheer us on,

and our job 

here on Earth,

is to live the very best life 

we can,

and to carry them with us,

filled with Pride. 

 

Let’s make them shine today. 

Id be honored to hear 

their story. 

And yours. 

Tell me your story.