Love, Loss, and the Ways We Carry It Forward

I attended two weddings this fall and, at both, it felt like my dad was right there beside me, as I know how much joy he would have found in these celebrations. 

It left me pondering love. Not just the kind captured in wedding photographs, but the kind that quietly sustains us day after day. The love found in friendship, family, pets, partnership, and the small moments of connection that remind us we belong.

Maybe fall is an invitation to pause and reflect on the relationships that feed us, the connections we want to nurture, and how we want to show up for those we love.

What has love been teaching you lately?

We often think of love as something we experience in the present tense, but love is deeper and more encompassing than that. Love can also teach us something about loss.

When someone we love dies, our relationship with them doesn’t simply disappear. It changes. We learn to carry that love differently.

Sometimes, we find it in the habits we picked up from them, the values they instilled in us, or the stories we continue to tell. Sometimes, it appears unexpectedly in a familiar song, a funny memory, or a moment when we wish we could share something with them.

Grief and love are deeply intertwined. The absence of someone can be felt alongside the enduring connection we continue to have with them. We can miss someone terribly while also feeling grateful for what they brought into our lives.

Perhaps one of the most meaningful things about love is that it can continue to shape us long after circumstances change. The people who have loved us, supported us, and helped us become who we are remain part of our stories.

As we move through this season of change, perhaps there is an invitation to reflect not only on who we love, but on how love continues to live in us.

Who has shaped the way you love? What relationships do you want to give more attention to? And how might you honour the love you continue to carry for someone who is no longer here?

Perhaps love is not only something we share in the moments we have together, but something we continue to carry, nurture, and pass on.