Eleven years. How is it even possible that eleven years have gone by since Morgan went home?

(This was written in 2019, so if you are reading this after that, it will have been more than eleven years.)

For anyone who doesn’t know, Morgan was my sister-in-law who passed away from cancer eleven years ago today.

Time goes on, despite the losses we face, the hard times we come across and the journey life takes us on. This day brings back a lot of memories. both good and bad.

Before Morgan’s passing, we lost my grandparents, several uncles, an aunt, and family friends. Death and loss have always been a part of our lives. You get used to that person being gone, get used to a new normal to some extent, but there is always that person-shaped hole in your life. My family talks about those who have gone before us often, not because we can’t let go, but because they left such an impact on our lives that they will never be forgotten.

Time marches on. People have gotten married, babies have been born, we’ve gotten jobs and bought houses and gotten college degrees. There has been more loss, more death and pain in the last eleven years too. But the past, and the people we’ve lost helped to make us who we are today. We’re stronger, as a family and as individuals.

Sometimes life is hard, even brutal. I love this quote from the Hobbit:

Even in great loss, there is hope. Even in death, we have hope that we will see them again in Heaven. If there is anything I’ve learned in life, it’s that winter doesn’t last forever, and in even in the darkest of winters, there is beauty. #collateralbeauty

Something I wrote shortly after Morgan’s passing…

Eleven years later, we still do not say goodbye. We say “See you in the morning.”