10/22/2026
As October settles in, so does the familiar heaviness of knowing we are approaching one of the hardest seasons of the year for those of us grieving someone we love.
Please be patient with us. Be gentle with us. And above all, be kind.
Because while the world prepares for holidays, celebrations, and family traditions, we are trying to figure out how to make it through another season with someone missing.
How to watch the leaves fall and the seasons change, knowing another year is slipping away without our child.
How to sit around a Thanksgiving table and feel thankful when there's an empty seat where they should be.
How to gather around a Christmas tree and find joy when all we can see is the absence of the one we wish was still here.
How to welcome another new year when all we really want is one more moment in the years we had with them.
These aren't just holidays anymore.
They are painful reminders of everything we've lost, everything that's changed, and all the memories we will never get to make.
We aren't trying to ruin the holidays.
We are simply trying to survive them.
So if we seem a little quieter, a little more distant, or a little less joyful this season, please understand.
We are carrying a heartbreak that
doesn't take a holiday.
