Loving the Missing

I recently visited my daughter Hannah's grave.  I have not been there for many years.  I do what I always do. I lay on the grass and remember her hands.  
 
My sister Laura helps me wash and decorate the gravestone.  We eat a picnic and share memories of Hannah.  While we watch ducks and their babies, a grey heron stands at the edge of the pond.
 
We cry and we laugh.  We clean up dinner and walk to the car.  As we pull away, I feel the prescient sadness of loving someone and missing them.  I feel grateful for the tears.  Twenty-two years after my daughter's death, I realize I will never forget how much I love her.
 
 

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About the Author
Maria Housden is a lecturer and author of HANNAH'S GIFT: Lessons From A Life Fully Lived (Bantam 2002) and Unraveled (Harmony Books 2005). She has been featured on the Today Show and Dr. Phil. Her first book, HANNAH'S GIFT, the story of her daughter's life and death from cancer, is being made into a full-length feature film and is translated in 16 languages. Email: [email protected]
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