Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Sometimes I need to talk about him and remember the good times. Sometimes I need to cry.

I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable or angry.

I’m just trying to keep my memories alive, because my memories are all that I have anymore.

I know you have heard all these stories before, and I know you are tired of hearing about the past.

Yet the past is what helps me make it through. When the pain is so unbearable that being able to remember is the only thing that eases it.

Please sit with me and listen. Please hold my hand.

All I need from you, is for you to be present as I remember my life before it ended, and this nightmare began.

— Nicole Barden 6/26/2021

Originally published in Know Thyself, Heal Thyself on Medium