A Year Is Nothing

So now I am a part of this club that I never applied for, I always get the expected yet dreaded question:

"When did he die?"

"November."

"Almost a year."

Here is something you don't know until you become part of this club. Time is nothing, it still feels like a fresh wound pouring crimson blood onto the floor where my heart is.

The thing is, if you have not been through it, you do not understand.  You will not understand until you are told by a doctor that your loved one is going to die, and then you don't understand until you watch them take their last breath and you see in their eyes that this is the last goodbye.

I can say this openly because I was the person who thought I understood. Now I know I had no idea.

Heartbreak is real. It is this icy hot sensation that burns in your chest when you see your loved one's casket being rolled away for the last time.

Death is real.

Life is real.

Practicing empathy is a beautiful thing, but if you can't do it, do not fake it.

Show your true emotion and don't be present.

Step to the side and allow those who are genuine to be that person's shoulder.