09/16/2025
Grief and Loss of a Parent or Child
The loss of a parent or a child is a grief unlike any other. It reaches into the deepest parts of us—our roots and our future—and leaves a mark that time alone cannot erase. Grief does not follow a straight path. It shifts and changes, sometimes softening, sometimes rising suddenly with memory.
Each journey through grief is uniquely our own. Yet one truth endures: grief does not disappear—it evolves. Love remains, and in carrying it forward, we learn how to live with both presence and absence woven into our days.
To My Mom
I write these words for you, Mom, with the ache of your absence and the warmth of your love still alive in me.
The Empty Chair
The chair still waits—
soft in its fabric,
bright in the way sunlight
catches each woven thread,
sturdy as though it could hold
the whole weight of the world.
But it holds no one now.
Only silence sits there,
folded neatly into cushions,
a memory pressed deep
where laughter once lived.
I trace the shape of absence—
my hand hovers where yours should be.
The chair does not creak or sway;
it only shines, faithfully,
as if to remind me
that presence leaves
more than bodies.
And so I learn
to sit beside what’s gone,
to love the space that remains,
to breathe in the light
that still gathers,
quietly, around the empty chair.
With Love,
Your Forever Little Girl &
Neighborhood Counsellor
Cara 💛
