I’ll miss you for the rest of my life.
Sometimes I don’t think people understand how long that is.
The rest of my life.
However many years I have left, I have to live every single one of them without you.
I’ll get older, and you won’t.
There will be pictures of me at ages you never get to see. There will be people who become important to me that you will never know.
There will be whole parts of me that come after you.
And that is so hard for me to accept.
Because our time together is finished.
There are no more years being added to it. No new stories between us. No new pictures of us. No chance to know each other five years from now, or ten, or twenty.
Everything we had has already happened.
But my life keeps going.
Every birthday I have puts more time between the last time you were here and where I am now.
And one day, I may realize I have lived more of my life without you than I ever got to live with you.
I don’t know what to do with that.
Because I never wanted you to become someone from an earlier part of my life.
I wanted you in all of it.
And all of it was supposed to be so much longer.
Written by: Aimee Suyko - In Their Footsteps
If these words connected with you, you’ll find many more like them in What Remains. It’s a collection of the writings I’ve shared over the years, bringing together reflections on grief, love, loss, and the connections that continue long after someone is gone.
I hope it brings you comfort, understanding, and the reminder that you're not alone.
This is the original text from the book where Desiderata was first published.
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
by Max Ehrmann ©1927