It had been over six months since Fred left this good earth. I still looked for him around corners. I still expected him to be sitting, waiting for me outside the bookstore at the mall, but he wasn’t. I often relaxed in one of our two lawn chairs I’d placed under the pines at the back of the half-acre; the pines swaying green and tall against the blue sky. Out of habit, I’d lean over to the other chair, but Fred wasn’t there either.
     It was time to let go of the thought I would ever see him again on this earth. Or hear his laughter. Or watch him grin and wiggle his ears the way he used to. It was facing reality and letting go that hurt so much. But I believed that only through letting go could I get through the deepest pain of loss and begin to heal. And only when I was truly healed, could I refill my life with all the good memories, all the new hopes and new beginnings.