“People touch our lives if only for a moment, And yet we’re not the same from that moment on, The time is not important, The moment is forever.” – Fern Bork

A soul has passed.  A friend has begun a new journey, one none of us can comprehend because it is saved as a special gift at one’s death.  Death … such a heavy word.  Death … a word that many times carries such dark, sad connotations.  Death … so quickly seen as “an end” rather than as a beginning. Death … forcing us to traverse a crevasse filled with a growing sense of vulnerability.  Death … something that unifies us all regardless of political or spiritual beliefs.

A soul has passed.  A friend’s smile and laughter will now be missed.  Memories will fill the gaps between our last encounter and an absence of being.  But, that is what memories do.  They become tools providing a means of filling an ever increasing gap caused by the space between a death and the “now” of having someone loved no longer present in our physical world. 

A soul has passed.  A “touch” … a tactile presence is no longer possible.  The frustration from its absence creates sadness as we move towards acceptance and rely upon memories to help fill the void.

A soul has passed.  We begin our journey into and through grieving.  What once was will never be again.  The force of that understanding feels overwhelming so early in this journey but we know from experience that the strength it holds will diminish as time passes and scaring occurs to help heal the wound left from our loss. 

Grief is a highly personal time.  Though strength is drawn from the support of others, it becomes a process of looking inward and being vulnerable.  “Reflective vulnerability” now encases us as we walk each day, time where we realize we too are of a time and place in our personal journey when a moment of death may visit and knock at our door.   How it is framed and processed reflects this inward exploration.  It may begin in one way then morph into something totally unexpected.  But in the end, I believe I must arrive at a place where I give myself permission to embrace the freedom to flow and adjust to my needs as they reveal themselves.  Allow myself to be myself … there are no “shoulds”.  What unfolds … what becomes … what simply “is” … all are enough … all are perfect.

A soul has passed, and my life is changed forever because of the journey it traveled.  A gift from someone loved.  A stamp of their essence upon my vulnerability so that I might grow richer from within and face fears that may arise.  Magic dust carried in a pouch for use when my “sunset” time signals its arrival.

Be one with the forever my dear friend.  Your song will now be heard among the spaces between the leaves.