When Death Leaves Us Alive

This is for you…

For the one who has ever sat in silence,

knowing someone is never coming back.

For the one who scrolls through old messages or hears a song that makes your chest tighten.

This is for everyone carrying grief not on their sleeve, but inside their bones.

The memory that never fades

I was just a little girl, around seven. It was the year 2000.

I had fallen while playing outside, and my knee was bleeding. I ran home crying  and both my parents were sitting there.

That’s when my dad looked at me with calm eyes and said something I’ve never forgotten.

>"Dont focus on the pain too much"

Then he handed me salt.

Yes, salt. To put on my wound.

It stung like fire. But I got back up. And I went back to play.

From that moment, I understood something. Pain doesn’t always go away when you focus too much on it. Sometimes, it’s about treating the wound even when it burns  and choosing to keep going.

That’s what he taught me.

My father, the man who made me tough

He raised me to be strong. He raised me not just as a girl, but as someone who could face the world with grit.

Now, I look at my son  and I know my dad would have loved to be here for him. He would have taught him so much.

But he’s not here.

I never needed to forgive my father for anything. He gave me everything: love, lessons, and backbone. I still talk to him when I need to. I still thank him for making me this version of myself.

And when that song plays “See You Again”  I let the tears fall.

Because even strong women cry.

When grief becomes a part of us

Death doesn’t leave the way people think.

It doesn’t knock once and go.

It echoes in the days that follow. In birthdays. In places we used to go.

In our children’s faces. In quiet nights. In loud laughter that feels incomplete.

Sometimes, it comes as a wave. Sometimes, a whisper.

But we learn to live with it.

We carry their memory. We speak their names.

We break down… but we do not break.

You are not alone in this

If you’ve lost someone, this is your reminder:

You are not weak for still missing them.

You are not broken for still crying.

You are human  still alive still breathing and still growing.

Let the pain soften you, not harden you. Let it remind you how deeply you loved. And that love? It still lives inside you.

✨ We don’t raise our children in bitterness. We raise them in wholeness.

We choose to remember, to feel, and to continue.

📖 For more healing stories, reflections, and gentle encouragement, visit

👉 yourpeaceyourpriority.blogspot.com

Melissa Marufu Acero