17/09/2022
September 6, 1992. It was 30 years ago, today, that I was told the unbearable shocking news that my brother had been found dead in Alaska. I went through today with quiet acknowledgment of the marker, taught Christiana her math & language arts, danced with her in the kitchen before dinner. I had no plans to share anything about it. Then, coincidentally, my habit of reading before bed every night stumbled upon this excerpt in a book by Fredrik Backman - a humorous book, mind you, but still, there it was…
“People in the real world always say, when something terrible happens, that the sadness and loss and aching pain of the heart will “lessen as time passes,” but it isn’t true. Sorrow and loss are constant, but if we all had to go through our whole lives carrying them the whole time, we wouldn’t be able to stand it. The sadness would paralyze us. So in the end we just pack it into bags and find somewhere to leave it.”
Feels about right.
Sometimes it’s a backpack.
I know many of you can relate.