Five losses, one daily practice

People ask me how I keep standing after losing five of the people I loved most. The honest answer is that I stopped looking for a way around the grief and started looking for a way through it, one day at a time. Every morning I do the same three things: I say their names out loud, I thank God for the time we had, and I pick one small thing I can finish before the day ends. Some days that thing is a workout. Some days it is simply making the bed and calling a friend. The practice does not erase the loss, but it gives the day a spine, and over the years those single finished days have quietly added up to a life that still has joy in it.