Silence Not Closure
People talk about closure like it’s a thing you can wrap up in a box. Like it’s something you eventually find, if you just search long enough or say the right words. But I didn’t get closure. I got silence. Not a dramatic goodbye. Not a final moment filled with peace or clarity. I got a half-eaten ice cream sandwich. I got a mother who disappeared long before she stopped breathing. I got a lifetime of wondering. I still remember the way she loved Christmas. She made everything feel magical. That last Christmas, I helped set up the gifts, even though everything already felt wrong. And when I sat down to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I didn’t know it would be the last time I read to her while she was still breathing. But deep down, I think I did know. She didn’t respond. She didn’t open her eyes. She just… stopped. And I was grabbed before I could run upstairs. Like they were trying to protect me from myself. My silence started there. I didn’t get to fall apart in that moment...