You may be gone, but you are not absent.
I carry you with me every day — not just in memories, not just in the ache of missing you, but in the lessons you left behind.

You taught me what it means to give without counting, to love without fear, to risk my heart even when it felt fragile. You showed me that vulnerability is not weakness, but the bravest thing we can offer.

And you taught me through absence, too.
Through the way silence can echo louder than words.
Through the way loss strips us bare, forcing us to see who we really are without the people we thought we couldn’t live without.

I have learned that love is both gift and teacher.
It lifts, it wounds, it shapes, it scars. It makes us more human than anything else ever could. And even when it ends, it does not leave us empty — it leaves us changed.

Sometimes I wish I could unlearn the pain, erase the nights I cried until my chest ached. But then I realize: without those moments, I wouldn’t be who I am now. Stronger. Softer. More open.

So no, you are not here anymore.
But the lessons you left remain.
And they guide me, every step I take, into the person I am becoming.

Always and Forever

💬 What lessons did love leave you with? Share in the comments — your story might be the wisdom someone else needs tonight.