(no subject)
When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose them all at once; you lose them in pieces over a long time - the way the mail stops coming - and their scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in their closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of them that are gone. Just when the day comes, when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feelings that they're gone forever, there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.
When the broken hearts are mended and the many tears are dried, you learn. When you're over the old boyfriends and the old girlfriends and you realize that you can live without your first love, you learn. You see that the world doesn't end just because you think it will, and that sometimes growing up means letting go. You learn what real love is, and you begin to see that one friend who really cares is better than a hundred friends who don't. You learn that you can be strong, take each day step-by-step, and survive every sad moment. So feel the pain and cry the tears, go out and experience life. But when you're at the end of your rope, and you're ready to jump off that ledge, remember that heartaches fades, pain subsides, and though life seems at times too tough to handle, it's also too precious a gift to waste. Keep on living, never give up, and remember: As you grow, you learn.