Time is a strange thing. The clock never stops for you.

Minutes turn to hours, hours to days, days to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. It’s inevitable but it doesn’t make it easier.

It’s been 26 weeks today since that fateful Thursday. Exactly one-half of a year since Bella left this world. She took a part of me with her. It seems like life has turned upside down, and every time I think I’m turning right side up, there it tumbles again.

And so my plea is this. Give grace to others. We’re all hurting in our own way at one point or another. We’ve all loved and lost, and many of us have chosen to love again. We do because we have hope. Maybe today isn’t so easy, but tomorrow could better. Love does conquer all if you let it, and a bit of kindness doesn’t hurt either.

I’ve never really been one to be afraid of change. Change is life and we learn to adapt. And we learn that some change brings joy and others, anguish. This is life, the ebbs and flows. And so we struggle, moving forward without moving on. Letting go without forgetting. Remembering without regretting.

One day I will stop counting the months, the weeks. But not today. Today, I watch the clock.