#grief

“The First Anniversary of Losing My Mom”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

Today marks one year since my mom passed away.

Anyone who has lost someone close knows that the first year is filled with a series of quiet milestones. The first Christmas without them. The first Thanksgiving. The first Easter. The birthdays they aren’t there for. Each one arrives with a moment where you feel their absence a little more clearly. Over time, you realize that the first year isn’t just about grief — it’s about learning how the world continues to turn while you slowly learn how to carry their memory with you in it.

For me, my mom passed away just six days before my birthday last year, so today also marks the closing of that very first cycle of “firsts.” The holidays, the moments, the days when I instinctively reached for the phone before remembering. Somehow, we made it through all of them. Not perfectly, not easily — but we made it through.

Now a new year begins, one that isn’t measured by firsts, but by memories. The love doesn’t disappear, and neither do the lessons or the laughter. They simply change form and maybe that’s the quiet truth of grief: the first year teaches you how to live with it, and the years that follow remind you that love never really leaves.

Grief never truly goes away – we simply learn to carry it differently, side by side with the love and memories that will always remain. 

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“The Month of March”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

I’ve never really liked the month of March.

For as long as I can remember—going all the way back to childhood—it felt like if something bad was going to happen to me, it would happen in March. Somehow, year after year, that belief kept proving itself true.

Last March, my mom passed away.

Last March, I spent my birthday quietly, just me and my dad.

And March became heavy in a way I didn’t ask for.

But today, as this new March begins, I’m trying something different.

I’m trying to loosen my grip on the story I’ve been telling myself.

Trying to remember that months don’t get to decide my fate.

Trying to believe that grief doesn’t own the calendar, and neither do old fears.

This March, I’m choosing to meet the days as they come—without expectation, without dread, and with a little more grace for myself.

Maybe healing doesn’t mean forgetting what happened.

Maybe it just means not letting it define everything that comes next.

Here’s to a gentler March.

One day at a time.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“A Different Kind of Christmas”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

I know it’s Sunday and I know I never shared a Christmas post this year.

The truth is, this holiday felt different. It was the first one without my mom, and it sat tenderly in the quiet spaces of the day. I missed my kids, I missed the version of Christmas I used to know, and I think my heart just needed a little time to breathe.

So I want to say I’m sorry for going quiet… and also thank you for understanding.

And if your Christmas looked different this year too — if it felt heavier, or quieter, or not at all what you expected — I hope you know you’re not alone. Sometimes the holidays aren’t about the sparkle… sometimes they’re about learning how to carry our memories, our grief, and our love all at once.

If this year was hard, I’m holding space for you.

If it was healing, I’m celebrating with you.

And if you’re still figuring out what it all meant — I’m right there with you.

Here’s to gentle days and softer hearts.

Here’s to honoring what was… and finding hope in what’s to come.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~