split personality

Original date 12 December 2011

Just call me Sybil.

I very often feel like I have a split personality. I have passed the one year mark. I find these words difficult to absorb even as I type them. Hell, I never expected to live out that first year.

And I know I surviving the second is going to be harder because he really isn't coming back and this really is my life now.

I often thought that it was a shame that I couldn't just "think myself" to death. In fact, there were many days when I was surprised to find that I couldn't. But here I am...with a split personality...sometimes.

Life is getting "better". I now smile and laugh readily. My depressingly sad moments don't take an entire day (or week) to get through.

And yet...I still want Brian. I still am brought to tears at the thought of his absence sometimes.

One moment I feel fine. Good, in fact. And the next, I'm grieving again for what will never be. I still do not look very far into the future. I do better to focus on one day at a time, as do most of you probably. The future was ripped away so I'm not sure when I'll be able to peer into it again.

But I'm ready to be happy. I'm ready to live fully. I'm ready to blend my personalities.

Dammit!

He's been dead for a year. It's time for me to look my grief straight in its face and let it know that it will not control me. It won't cripple me. It won't keep me from living. It will not define me.

Brian wouldn't want that for me any more than I'd want that for him. But I do acknowledge that it will always be a part of me. My grief will be a beautiful part of me because it's about Brian and he was a beautiful part of me. He made me feel beautiful. And loved. Very, very loved...and secure in every way.

My grief has softened me...into a more compassionate person. But it's also hardened me...and let me know that I can endure anything.

All in all, it's made me a better person (in most ways). So I will wear my grief proudly. As one who loved and was loved beyond all reason. And I will live positively. As one who is sure that the love in her heart will never die...not until she breathes her last breath.

Death sucks, but life is good.