Both Can Live Here

I am learning that grief and gratitude are not opposites.

They can exist in the same breath,

in the same heart,

in the same moment.

I grieve the ease of my old life -

the freedom,

the quiet,

the version of myself that moved without pause.

And I am deeply grateful

for this life I am living now -

for the miracle of motherhood,

for the weight of my baby in my arms,

for the love that arrived and changed everything.

Holding grief does not diminish gratitude.

And gratitude does not erase grief.

Both belong.

One honours what was.

The other honours what is.

And in allowing them to coexist,

I make space for the full truth of this season -

complex, tender, and deeply human.

Both can live here.