When Someone Dies

So many lives have ended this week. Some that I have been aware of were celebrities and some were the family members of online friends.

There is an image I have for the way it feels when someone vital to you dies. I shared this image with a friend online and it helped her so I thought I'd share it here too and, if someone is no longer in your life or if you are just badly affected by the deaths of one or more of the public figures we have lost recently, I hope it also helps you.

Three Walls

When someone you love dies, it's like one of the outside walls of your house falls down. The rain gets in. Soil is blown in from the garden and it's cold and frightening. You want to rebuild the wall but the council refuses planning permission so you buy a tent.

You all squeeze into this tent and pitch it in the house thinking,

'any day now that wall's going to rebuild itself or the council will change its mind,'

but it doesn't happen. After a while, you realise you can't rely on the house to be your home any more. Three of the walls are there but without the fourth it doesn't work the same so you all start trying to love the tent.

You make it bigger and fill it with new things and eventually, you do love the tent. It's still in the grounds of the house. The three walls still protect it but you notice that where the soil blew into the house, little flowers are starting to grow.

It takes a long time for all this to happen but it does happen and when you finally notice that the place where the wall once was is now the place where the sun rises, that is when you're able to appreciate that life is beautiful even without it there.

©Rebecca Woodhead