A Year of Love and Change
Estimated reading time: 0 minutes, 53 seconds
Last night, our family observed Jan’s first Yahrzeit. It is now officially a year since the love of my life died.
Neither the secular nor Hebrew calendars are wrong, but it still seems I was kissing Jan for the last time yesterday.
I am not the same person who met Jan or the one who married her, raised a family, and loved each other forever.
Of course, I am also not the same person who buried her a year ago or even celebrated her life a month ago.
As Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler wrote,
You will be whole again, but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same, nor would you want to.
I have changed in the last year, but my love for Jan has grown.
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Jan’s Yahrtzeit Reminds Me Why Love Never Dies
During my walk, I remembered a passage from Rachel Kodanaz's book "Living with Loss, One Day at a Time" on page 138. The passage poses a thought-provoking question about whether someone would rather have their years shortened or not have any at all.
Reflecting on this question, my answer remains unchanged. Although the thought of Jan's life ending when we first met would have initially caused me great sadness, I would have eventually come to focus on the love we shared rather than the time we lost.
Epitaph: Love Never Dies
Estimated reading time: 0 minutes, 53 secondsMy daughter-in-laws Karen Tillou and Elyssa Nucero read Epitaph by Merrit Malloy at Celebrate Jan Day, April 24, 2022.
