Life Before Loss, Life After Loss

There’s a moment that divides life into two parts—before loss and after loss. It’s not something you notice when you’re in the “before.” Life moves forward, filled with routines, laughter, small frustrations, and ordinary moments that feel endless. You assume there will always be more time.

Before loss, there were things taken for granted—the sound of a loved one’s voice, their presence in a room, the way they made everything feel a little more secure. There were shared meals, familiar traditions, and conversations that seemed like they would always continue. Their laughter, their advice, their hugs—each one a thread in the fabric of everyday life.

And then, one day, everything changes.

After loss, the world feels the same but is forever altered. The places remain, the routines continue, but now with a space that cannot be filled. The urge to call, to share a story, to seek their wisdom still lingers. Their absence is felt in a thousand little ways—a favorite song playing unexpectedly, an empty seat at the table, a phrase they used to say echoing in memory.

Grief reshapes life. It doesn’t go away, but it softens and intertwines with love, becoming part of the story rather than the entire chapter. In the "after," there is learning—how to carry their love forward, how to see them in the lessons they left behind, how to honor them in the way life is lived.

Life before loss was whole. Life after loss is different—sometimes heavier, sometimes lonelier—but still meaningful. Because love doesn’t end; it transforms. It lingers in the way they shaped the heart, in the moments shared, in the footsteps taken forward in their memory.

For those walking this path—before and after—I see you. You are not alone. And may you always find ways to carry their love with you.

💗 Aimee