March came barreling down on me,
As if unannounced.
As if my brain decided that this year,
And maybe every year,
March would simply no longer exist.

Because,
How could it?
How could it be almost a year?
How could I survive this year?
How did I survive this year,
Without you?

The answer:
A piece of me didn’t.
A piece of me will be forever lost,
to March 2019.

That piece, of course, is you.
My little sister, my love.

I tend to find trinkets of importance on days when I’m struggling most.
Maybe it’s similar to the way we find happiness when we look for it,
Or the way we find comfort, when we need it.

On March 2nd, I came across this necklace. It’s intended purpose was to mark a month of birth.
But with a meaning so powerful, so reflective of your life, and yet so eloquently representative of your death, too—here it now lay, dainty, around my neck.

Etched in gold, is the cherry blossom.
A delicate flower that is an emblem
Of seeing beauty in the moment.
A breathtaking and short-lived bloom,
It represents all the beautiful moments
That are fleeting and cherished.

Just like your life.
Just like you.

My cherry blossom.

---

Continue Reading My Collection of Grief Reflections:

1. Surviving The Loss of Sisterhood
2. (SOMETIMES) | Our Matching Tattoos
3. I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes
4. My Cherry Blossom
5. Dear Autumn
6. Behind The Scenes
7. What Are You Thankful For
8. Little Women
9. Our Last Day Together
10. Scrabble On The Psychiatric Ward
11. What’s Harder? Death Days Or Birth Days?
12. Rebuilding Trust With The World
13. Christmas Eve
14. Maddie, I Wish I Could Run Like You
15. All We Can Do Is Try
16. What To Say To Someone Who Is Grieving

Read my Sister’s observations, reflections, and poetry:

1. Two Belugas, Two Blue Guys
2. I am not a sculpture, I am a garden