We all have red letter dates littered throughout our lives.
November 8, 1965
The day we were born. The days when loved ones died.
August 15, 1988
Days that brought pure joy, or conversely, deep loss and sadness.
October 28, 1989
We mark them each year, sometimes with a quiet nod. A little smile. Others by pulling the covers over our heads and staying in bed.
January 16, 1991
Even if we forget sometimes, our bodies keep score. Reminding us with a rumbling tummy, a slight headache or a general feeling of dread.
March 14, 2014
Sometimes we smile and delight in a cherished memory. Sometimes those memories are dust causing tears to trickle down our cheeks.
July 7, 2014
They are the dates that clearly mark who we were before, shattering every aspect of the life we’d known and lived. The Before.
August 15, 2014
We take those shards of our soul to create something different. With each step forward on this new “after” path, we find more pieces, different parts of ourselves.
And we create a mosaic from the broken shards, rediscover parts we thought we’d lost and explore a path so different from anything we’d ever imagined.
The goal is to accept what comes After, to craft something whole and beautiful from the pieces left. To be better, not bitter.
Writer and Raconteur 