I still mother them….

Today was an Assateague kind of day with my grandson Adriano. ❤️

He is 13 now, growing up way faster than this Nonna would like, and today was his first time experiencing Assateague. We saw the wild horses, explored the marshes and trails, stopped at the Visitor Center and just spent the day together.

But somewhere in the middle of all of it, Adriano said something that stopped me.

He told me the beach makes him sad because his mom loved the beach.

And there it was. In the middle of this beautiful day, grief showed up too.

I think sometimes we forget how differently children carry loss. They can be laughing one minute, completely caught up in what they are doing, and then a place, a smell, a song or a memory brings someone they love right back to the surface.

I understood exactly what he meant. And I also understood that I didn’t need to fix that moment for him. His mom did love the beach. He misses her. Of course there are going to be places that make his heart hurt.

So today wasn’t about trying to make the beach not sad. It was about being there with him while it was.

We still explored. We still laughed. We still made memories. And maybe that is one of the things I want Adriano to learn as he grows up: you don’t have to choose between missing someone and living your life. Both can exist in the same day. Love and grief have a way of doing that.

Life has taught me not to wait to make memories with the people I love. So today, Adriano and I made another one together at Assateague.

His mom was part of the day too.

I think she always will be. ❤️