Most people in the world, sadly, have someone they miss on a day to day basis; and most reasons for missing them is that they haven’t just left them, but also they’ve left the world. They died. To those people that know how it feels to miss someone so much your heart aches just thinking about them, you are not alone.

Its hard to celebrate when you miss someone that much, but life goes on and we have to, they would want us to. I don’t know if once someone dies they can see the people back on earth that they love, but if they can, I know that they would much rather see us smiling and celebrating holidays and life with the people we love that are still here with us. When it comes to those times of celebration its okay to cry at the thought of missing the ones that have left, but don’t forget to smile at the memories of them. I have several people in my life that I miss daily and during the holidays throughout the year, but on Easter I miss one of them an extra amount.

Easter is my favorite holiday and it has been since I was a little kid. The white and pastel colors everywhere, either on people’s clothes or decorated throughout the homes and churches. It’s a beautiful time also because of the rainbow rows of flowers that are popping up everywhere. The music in church is so breath-taking, but during the Easter of 2011 the music seemed a little less consuming as usual. The reason being the loud, captivating, bellowing voice of my Grandpa was missing from the choir. Amazing Grace no longer brings a smile to my face but tears to my eyes. I miss you, grandpa, most at Easter. A lot of things remind me of you. The church bells, the choirs, seeing grandma sitting without you. These bring tears to my eyes, but happy memories to my heart. I remember when you were in the choir at your church and your voice could be heard over all the others, I have a tape of you singing Amazing Grace, and even though I can’t listen to it, just holding it reminds me of those days and I can hear your voice.

I have learned to cope with this heart ache in a couple different ways. The first is to embrace the tears. Its okay to cry and show emotion, it acts as a remember to how much you truly care about the person/people that are gone now. Another way is through prayer. I am a Christian so if my heart is aching I turn to God and every time without fail, He calms me down. If you are not of the same faith, maybe try talking to the person you miss, that could soothe that mind. The last thing I do that helps me cope is to think of the funniest memory you have with them. My grandpa was a real character so I have many to choose from. The one I think about a lot is when we were on a family spring break and we were walking by the pier; a bunch of girls were in line to get their bellies pierced, and he told me that I should get one and if I did he’d get one too. This memory always causes my tears to stop and I always start smiling and laughing.

Missing someone you love is hard. Depending on the day of year it can seem almost impossible to have a good day without them, but you can. If you focus on the time spent with them whether that was a really long time or only a few short years, those days become easier. I hope that whomever reads this finds help on the hard days knowing that you’re not alone, and that there are ways to feel happy.