This Is For Anyone Who Has Ever Lost A Loved One

“If you were still alive, I might not have realized that the whole ‘live each day like it’s your last’ mindset is legit. That I need to treasure every moment while I still can and tell my family I love them as much as possible.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“You’ll never move on. Not really. There will be some days when you can think of them with a smile and other days when they won’t even cross your mind. And some days will even feel normal again. But then there will be a day when a certain song comes on the radio, or you smell a stranger with a famili…”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Somedays will be harder than others. But you’ll survive them all. You don’t really have a choice.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Don’t blame yourself for forgetting to tell them you love them on their last day. Don’t blame yourself for spending less time with them than you should’ve. Don’t blame yourself for making them miserable for a second or a day or a week, because you brought them happiness overall. So stop dwelling on…”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Sometimes remembering you is painful, but the possibility of forgetting is even worse.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“I want to live life the same way I would’ve lived if if you were still alive—in fact, I want to live life even better than before, because now I have a purpose. Now I have to make you proud.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“No one knows who you really are just by looking at your grave. I know who you are because you’re hidden in my heart.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“I think of you during the big moments of my life, every time I hit a new milestone. When I graduate, when I get promoted, when I eventually get married. I think of you and wonder what type of card you would’ve gotten me or what type of cake you would’ve baked me to celebrate. I wonder where you woul…”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Why did someone as sweet as you have to be ripped away from me? There are monsters in this world, sad excuses for human beings with no heart and no one that loves them, and yet you’re the one that was taken away. It just doesn’t seem fair. And it’s not.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Why did I assume that you’d always be there, even though I’m old enough to know the way that the universe works, even though I knew that every single life ends?”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Why aren’t you here? There are so many people that wish that you were, that would give anything in order to see you again.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“I can’t stop myself from thinking about you. Even if I could, I wouldn’t let the images fade and float away. I don’t care how badly the memories sting. I never want to forget you.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Now that I’m older, I realize how much you meant to me. People like you don’t come along often.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Everywhere I look, I see you.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Eventually, you’ll accept what happened, but acceptance doesn’t mean what you think it means. It doesn’t mean you’re back to living life the same way you were before it all went downhill. It just means you’ve gotten used to talking about them in the past tense instead of the present. You’re still no…”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“I want you to be here, in my house, filling it with your scent. I want to hear you fumbling around in the kitchen, trying to find where I stored the rest of the drinks. I want to hear your voice and your laugh and the sound of your footsteps.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Everyone handles their grief differently.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“It’s okay to break. It’s only human to lash out after you’ve suffered from a major loss. It happens. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It just makes you a person.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“Maybe it’s been a month since their death. Maybe it’s been ten years. It doesn’t matter how much time has passed. If you’re still struggling, that’s okay. That’s human.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com

“You can’t control what the world takes away from you, but you can control what you bring into the world.”

— Holly Riordan, amazon.com