The world feels thinner without you
Like someone quietly pulled a thread
From the center of the family
And the whole cloth loosened
You were the first doorway
Into the stories of who we were
Before any of us arrived
You carried the memories
That didn’t fit in photo albums
The whispered ones
The funny ones
The ones that made us proud
And the ones that made us human
Now the house sounds different
Quieter
Even the air feels cautious
As if it’s waiting for your laugh
To roll through the rooms
And remind us that everything
Even the hard things
Could be softened by your voice
I keep thinking of your hands
How they moved when you talked
How they folded towels
How they stirred pots
How they rested on your lap
Like they had already lived
A thousand small lifetimes
Grief keeps surprising me
It doesn’t knock
It just shows up
In a recipe you taught
In a song you hummed
In the chair you always claimed
Like it was made for you
And you alone
Sometimes I catch myself
Wanting to call you
To tell you something small
And unimportant
Because that’s what love really is
Isn’t it
The tiny things we shared
Without thinking twice
I didn’t realize
How much of my world
Was shaped by your presence
Until the shape changed
But love doesn’t leave
Just because the body does
You’re still here
In the way we speak
In the way we love
In the way we remember
What truly matters
You taught us that
You taught me that
Rest now
Auntie
Your stories are safe
Your love is safe
We’ll carry them forward
Not perfectly
Not the way you did
But with the same heart
You gave us
And when the family gathers
When the laughter rises
When the memories spill out
You’ll be there too
Quiet but present
Woven into everything
We still are