As I retrace the streets of the neighborhood where I saw my dad alive for the very last time five years ago—and as I enter my 20th year without my mom—I am here to tell anyone who will listen or needs to hear:
Living without your parents can grow less painful with the slow passage of time.
Walking the streets they walked without them becomes more a powerful way of feeling connected and less a painful way of feeling left behind. Their ghosts more comforting than haunting.
At least that has been my experience. As I hope it will be for any and all of you contending with or still to face parent loss. (All of us, should we be so lucky…)
And with the Oscars’ ode to stories and storytelling as my backdrop: Learn your parents’ stories. Tell your parents’ stories. They hold unparalleled gifts and lessons and keys to understanding yourself and the world in profound ways.
Like Laura Dern, I am blessed to have met my heroes. My parents. They most certainly had game, and I love them.
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