On Monday she got the call that they had been shut down.
Her heart dropped,
her legs went numb, her brain lacked the ability
to tell her how to stand.

Why was this happening to her?
That place was the last thing that connected her to her grandma.
For as long as she could remember,
Grandma would bring the birthday bear.
The birthday bear had a paw that you would press,
once pressed you would hear Great Grandma’s calm and lovely voice,
singing the lyrics to the Happy Birthday song.

The bear was given to Grandma as a birthday gift one year,
ever since then she’d brought it to every birthday,
starting a tradition.

Now that place was closed,
the memories of her childhood made there, were fading.
She could no longer hear the sound of bells,
which used to play whenever the doors were opened,
could no longer smell the fresh flowers that would hang from the window sills,
could no longer taste the fluffy butter cream frosting,
or the creamy homemade mashed potatoes.

Her grandma was gone and she hadn’t seen the birthday bear in years.

Seasons changed,
Life continued to move on as she stood in silence watching it go.
She wasn’t ready.
Not ready to move on,
not ready to forget,
not ready to forgive life for what it’d taken from her.

She didn’t know when she’d be ready,
Or if she’d ever be ready at all.

But as she stood in silence,
A lesson her grandma had once taught her came to mind.
“You must realize that everything comes to an end.
That your life doesn’t end even if theirs does.
The longer you wait in silence, the more life you lose.”