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Introduction by Amanda Held Opelt

  “He was my North, my South, my East, and West…” From W.H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues” Growing up, I spent plenty of sleepless nights worri...

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Growing old(er): Rambling thoughts about grief, age, & birthdays

 

Sisters-circa 1994.  I was18 and she around 16 and my shirt ironically says "Don't Look Back" but that's all I can do when I see this snapshot in time.  You see, I will turn 47 this May & have spent more time on this planet without my sister than I had with her.  I grow older but can not picture her any older.  Tomorrow would have been her 44th birthday, yet I can't imagine her as middle aged woman.  Feelings have always been hard for me to name, but I almost feel guilty for leaving her behind.  Grief makes no sense sometimes.  As I continue to age and my image in the mirror no longer matches my memory of her, how do I reconcile those things?