their character is utterly changed
The transformative moment for any loss comes when we realise we’ve moved from grieving for what we no longer have to reliving the joy we experienced when we had it.
This is the bitter-sweet moment in the transformation from bitter to sweet.
And while tears will flow either side of this moment, their character is utterly changed by it.
Your note here, Peter, makes me smile… with some melancholy… as I understand exactly what you mean. Literally even.
I lost a dear friend earlier in this year. A wrenching loss… the kind that steals your breath. So I placed a picture of her and myself on my refrigerator where I’d see it every morning. Every time my eyes fell on her face it would turn my insides with grief. I’d often stand there and cry… mourning her loss… remembering her beauty.
I left the picture there until one day I went to my refrigerator, looked into her face… and my heart simply remembered her beauty. Her picture is still there. I’m still remembering so much of her.
But yes, there is a threshold between bitter and sweet. What a lovely ache when we let ourselves linger there.
Thank you, Sonny, for sharing such a poignant and beautiful experience.
Yes, that’s exactly the moment those words speak to. When the grief subsides leaving just the love, while a gentle longing lingers.