I remember vividly at my son’s service, asking a fellow loss mom, “Does it get easier?” It had been less than a year since she’d lost her son, and here she was, trying to offer me what comfort she could.

She said the only answer possible, “It gets different.”

It’s true. There is never an ease to the burden of child loss. There is never a relief to the pain. There is never an end to the sadness and there will never be a day when those of us sharing in this impossible existence wake up feeling ‘better.’

It won’t get easier. It will change. Then it will change back. Some days will be wonderful, and we will celebrate the lives of our children for all that they did to bless this world. And some days our shattered hearts will bleed with the memories of the days we lost them, our breath will be shallow and our tears will run endlessly.

This life after loss is impossible. But it’s worth every impossibility because those beautiful children made a remarkable stamp on this world that demands to be remembered, honored, and renewed.