Maybe i hugged your presence too tight, that when you were gone, i couldn't breathe the same anymore.

Love stays in strange places. It waits where you least expect it on an empty chair, in the sound of your name, in days that suddenly feel heavier for no clear reason.

Today is your birthday, and i feel it more than i want to admit. Your absence feels louder today.

When you were still here, i never thought time would run out. I thought there would always be another visit, another story, another normal day with you around.

You were just there steady, familiar. I didn't realize how much i leaned on that. How much of my comfort came from knowing you existed in the world.

You made things feel safe without trying. You felt like home, even without saying a word.

Now, i find myself looking for you in moments that don't make sense to anyone else. When something good happens. When the afternoon is quiet. On days like today when i should be celebrating you, but instead I'm just missing you again.

"Grief " isn't always crying. Sometimes it's silence. Sometimes it's forgetting for a moment and then remembering all over again. That's the part that hurts the most. Realizing how much space you filled without me noticing.

"I didn't feel suffocated because you left. I feel suffocated because your love was the air i got used to breathing"