We always tell ourselves that the people we love will be around forever, until one day — they aren’t anymore. And I know you’re missing them right now. That it feels like a visceral ache, deep within a part of yourself you did not know existed until the day you lost them.

So today, I hope you remember that they live on within you, not just in your heart — but in the way you infuse their care and kindness into everything you do. In the way you take risks, knowing that tomorrow is not promised. In the way you so courageously stay open to new possibilities, even when you feel like you simply can’t keep going. In the way you continue to love so fiercely and purely, despite knowing the terror and grief of loss.

I hope you remember that even when you lose someone you love, the love you shared lives on. Their love is always with you. They are still with you.

The time of concern is over. No longer am I asked how I am doing. Never is the name of my beloved mentioned to me. A curtain descends. The moment has passed. A life slips from frequent recall. For most, their passing is complete.

But for me, their life will never end. The effects on me are timeless. Say their name to me. On the stage of my life, they have been both lead and supporting actor. Do not tiptoe around the greatest event of my life. Love does not die. Their name is written on my life. The sound of their voice replays within my mind.

You feel they are dead. I feel they are “of the dead” but still live on. You say they WERE my beloved, I say they “are”. Say their name to me and say it again. It hurts to bury their memory in silence. What they were in flesh has now turned to ash. What they are in spirit, stirs within me always. They are of my past, but they are part of my present.

Having known their great love is my hope for the future. Say their name for they are alive in me. We will meet again, though in many ways we have never parted. They and their life play loving songs on my mind, sunrises and sunsets on my dreams. They are real and they are eternal. They were and they are. They are my beloved and I love them as I always did. Say their name to me… and say it again.

I give you this one thought to keep.

I am with you still, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on the ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush…

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not think of me as gone.

I am with you still, in each new dawn.

Fare you well upon your journey,

To the bright lands far away,

Where beside the peaceful rivers,

You may linger any day.

In the forests warm at noontide,

See the flowers bloom in the glades,

Meet the friends who’ve gone before you,

To the calm of quiet shades.

There you’ll wait, O my beloved,

Never knowing want or care,

And when I have seen my seasons,

We will walk together there.