To those without sons or daughters, who thought about sharing pictures of your fur baby "sons and daughters" while others were posting about their human sons and daughters online... I did.
To those whose sons and daughters who are in heaven To those who have strained relationships with their sons and daughters To those whose sons and daughters are incarcerated To those whose sons and daughters are missing To those whose sons and daughters were adopted and you've never known them
To those whose sons and daughters are now living with others
To any man or woman watching the pictures scroll by on your social media with that distant look of longing and pain in your eyes...
I see you.
These social trends simultaneously give us an opportunity to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
Today, allow joy and lament to hold hands, to acknowledged one another, to validated one another, and to hold on to one another. May the voices speaking from inside waves of grief join with those speaking from inside whirlwinds of joy. Each has their place inside the other, like a moment of silence at a celebration and a moment of laughter at a memorial. Neither cancel the other, embrace them both, they can and do go together.
- Carrie Breedlove MS, LPC