Dear friends and family,

Surviving loved ones requires reflection upon our own mortality. We are forced to continue our lives with the reassurance that our loved ones would have supported putting aside the pain, loneliness and emptiness that has been left behind to lead fulfilling lives. The burden that we face - must be faced head on, if not by personal fortitude, than by the comforting thought that the ones we lost would have wanted us to do so.

The 14th-century Persian poet, Hafiz, wrote;

Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly.

Let it cut more deep.

Ask the friend for love.

Ask him again.

For I have learned that every heart will get

What it prays for Most.

Every Winter, brings about a Spring. Encompassing the loss, fully grasping the longing, will bring the change that we need, to grow, to blossom, to evolve.