The final part of the goodbye letter is just that.
Say goodbye.
We know in our minds they will never come home. We’ve received the death certificates, maybe even began to remove his or her name from the electric bill, the bank account, the lease on our home.
We’ve said the head goodbye, but not the heart goodbye.
Its time to say it.
We’ve asked for forgiveness, we’ve forgiven, we’ve detailed the ways in which we’ve been changed because of them. In our imperfect humanity, we’ve acknowledged regret, we’ve acknowledged love, and we’ve begun to move forward.
Our heart is holding us back.
We don’t want to let go because if we say goodbye, we may forget them. We fear it will be as if they’ve never existed.
Not so.
We couldn’t forget them because forgetting them would mean forgetting us. The new people we are for having shared time with our loved one. We could never forget because our children’s eyes show a father who never left. A mother who shines in his little toothless smile.
Yet we must open our hands and let them go. A beautifully bound leather book that is now closed. A book that contains our life as it was, ready to be revisited any time, any place.
It’s time to exhale, open your heart, and set them free. đź’™
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