I still mother them….

Lately, I’ve had more hard days than easy ones.

Some days I wake up and for a split second everything feels normal. Then reality settles in. Vincent is gone. Gabriella is gone. And my heart has to figure out how to carry that all over again.

The truth is, grief doesn’t care what you have planned for the day.

It shows up in the grocery store when you see someone’s daughter shopping with her mom. It shows up when a song comes on the radio. It shows up at family dinners, holidays, birthdays, and random Tuesday afternoons when you least expect it.

But I’ve learned something.

The hard days are going to come whether I want them to or not. I don’t get a vote in that.

What I do get a vote in is what happens next.

I can still love my grandchildren. I can still do the work I believe in. I can still show up for families who are hurting. I can still find things to be grateful for.

Sometimes winning doesn’t look like conquering the world. Sometimes winning is simply getting out of bed. Sometimes it’s taking a shower, answering a text, making dinner, or putting one foot in front of the other when your heart feels impossibly heavy.

The hard days have taken a lot from me.

But they don’t get to take everything.

They don’t get to take my purpose. They don’t get to take my love. They don’t get to take my memories. And they don’t get to take my ability to keep moving forward.

So if today is one of those days, I’m reminding myself of something I need to hear:

Don’t let the hard days win.

Just keep going.

Sometimes that’s enough. ❤️

I still mother them. I always will.