A new day.

I remember the mornings after receiving horrible news, when you start awake, realizing what you’ve lost; that everything awful is true; that you’ll always live life differently than before.

And yet even then, morning brings an insistent reminder that the world continues. Even then, the world tries to say there is beauty, even if you’re not ready to look.

Eventually you awaken and, one day, find the world beautiful, even if only for a second before reality reminds you that life is hard.

Life is hard and filled with loss. But it is also beautiful, and we can fill it with hope.

We remember the fallen with love. We gather the pieces of our hearts. We endure. And eventually, we move forward in love. We move forward into Peace. You just have to keep living long enough to find the Joy again. Wishing you Peace in all your struggles, even those as monumental as this one was.