#loss

“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~

“Here’s to 2026!”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

As I sit here on the very first day of 2026, on a quiet Thursday afternoon, I can feel it: 

hope, gratitude, excitement and a sense of peace I didn’t know I was capable of.

Last year wasn’t easy. I lost my mom, and that grief changed me in ways I’m still learning to understand, yet in the middle of that heartbreak, family found its way back to me. Doors I thought were long closed opened again. Love showed up in places I never expected and I’m grateful for that.

I also lost a very good friend, gone without conversation, explanation, or closure, and while it hurt, I chose to thank them anyway. I thanked them for the years we shared, even if they never responded because sometimes people leave without warning and we may never know why. Sometimes endings don’t come with answers. Sometimes they just come.

But here’s the thing:

With endings come beginnings.

With heartbreak comes clarity.

With loss comes room for something new.

And today, on 1/1/2026, I choose to see the good that grew from the hard. I choose gratitude for what was, hope for what’s becoming, and excitement for what’s waiting for me  just beyond the horizon of this brand new year.

My mantra for 2026?

“Kiss it up to God and hand it over to the universe…and keep going.”

Here’s to a year of believing in myself, trusting the journey, loving the lessons, and welcoming every beautiful beginning that’s meant for me.

Happy New Year, my friends.

May 2026 be gentle with us, bold for us, and full of magic we never saw coming. ✨

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~