Tonight, I took Liv to a meeting. It just so happened to be at a place that I haven’t been to in 19 months and 12 days. The place Liv was baptised. The place we were married. The place Jeff’s funeral was held.
I didn’t think it would affect me much. I thought I had grown stronger and more resilient. I knew it would sting a bit, but I hadn’t anticipated this.

I had to fill out forms. Forms that had Jeff’s name on them. I had to cross out his name. Cross it out. Like I was crossing him out. It felt wrong. I didn’t want to swipe him away as if he didn’t exist. He did. He was and always will be her father. I wrote ‘deceased’ beside his name and the traitorous strike in his name. I had to cross out his cell phone number. I had to write a new emergency contact.
It all feels….horribly, sickeningly wrong.

When outside, I stood in the spot where photos had been taken of us in our wedding garb. Now so seemingly frivolous and silly. It is also the same spot that I watched his coffin be driven away. The spot where Liv had waved and yelled, “Bye Daddy!” as the gravel crunched under the tires of the hearse.
I remember standing there. In a sedated state that made time go slower, the thoughts in my head unable to be voiced for others so I may feel some iota of comfort, and worrying, as I did for months after, that I was going to teeter and fall off this shaky precipice I was standing on. That I may just slip and fall…..fall apart. Lose myself. Lose………more than the everything I already had.

Most nights, I tuck myself into bed and attempt to turn off my head. Tell myself that I am doing okay. That I can do it. I can do it for the kids. Comfort myself with the thought that one day, it will all make sense….where he went. If he is still with me.

But tonight, I go to bed that same scared woman. Alone. Terrified. Lost. Solitary in my own head. Missing my anchor, my love, my best friend with all my heart.

Standing on a ledge. Am I going to slip? Am I going to fall off? Can I convince myself to just stare straight ahead?

Don’t look down. Don’t look side to side. Just stare at the horizon and keep standing….Please, just keep standing.

First written September 30, 2009