It arrived without fanfare, almost unnoticed, after all it’s not a day that I want to define me for life. Yet, there it was proven by the calendar, quiet and gentle, but here. I had no strategic plan or desired outcome. I would simply hold on gently and let the day and my heart guide me.

In the years since that first one, we have danced a dance of quiet respect. I nodded in passing as I pressed on with living and it reminded me that it would always be a part of my life. I never knew how I would feel so I learned to be gentle with myself either way. If tears threatened, I allowed them to fall and if I felt like dancing in the sunshine, well I did that too.

And now it has passed, another marker added to my history.  I did not choose it but I own it as mine. The good and bad anniversaries standing as a monument that I am here living life in all its glory; pressing on toward the mark of my high calling. You announce yourself as day to remember loss but I choose to remember and celebrate life.