Dear Empty Chair,

We hold a place for you,

Where you used to be,

As we glance over and remember what used to be.

The memories we cherish fondly and sometimes we remember with our tears,

Tears because we miss you after all these years.

We remember fondly the celebrations, the holidays, and the meals together as a family.

While we still celebrate and have meals together,

there are others in our lives now who haven’t met you,

and we wish you could have been here to meet them.

But God had other plans for you,

And over time,

we have learned how to live our new normal without you.

New experiences come and go,

And we wonder what your thoughts are to what is currently happening in our lives

And wishing you were here by our side.

You may be gone from the physical world,

But you are remembered fondly, and you are not forgotten.

We hold a space for you in our hearts,

Until it is our time to go, and we are no longer apart.

Brandi Reyna

Ms. Reyna is a creative soul with a passion for helping others. Her faith is very important to her and is reflected in her writings. She writes about her faith and the role it plays in her grieving process and how she grieves. Ms. Reyna's purpose for writing is to give voice to and shed light on unique losses. Ms.Reyna's articles focus primarily on building and living a new life after the sudden loss of her fiancé; the subsequent grief associated with sudden loss, her identification as an "unwedded widow" (a widow who was not legally married to her beloved), loss of a parent (grandparent) and creating a new life while living with loss. Ms. Reyna shares her journey to encourage others in their own faith and in their own healing journey. She hopes that by sharing her story and leading by example through her own life that her journey will show others that we can experience significant and impactful losses and still experience a full and joy-filled life after loss. Ms. Reyna holds a Master of Arts degree in Professional Studies with a specialization in Counseling.

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