One Year...And A Day Since We Lost Her

 Yesterday was the one year anniversary...exactly one year since our sister left us. My family gathered at the cemetery (where my parents's graves are also there...) and held a memorial. Unfortunately, me and my immediate family were unable to attend. Like last year, they released lanterns in her honor. I'm sure, like last year, they watched the ascend and wished they weren't there.

Even though yesterday was the anniversary of her passing, today is an anniversary as well. Today is the anniversary of those left behind having to face a life without her, without her laugh, without her wit, without her spirit. Ever since I was two and a half years old I awoke to a world exactly a year ago today without my sister.

Though hard on my brother and I and our families, it's most difficult for my sister's husband, her children, and her grandchildren. I know what it's like to lose a mother, but I lost her when I was in my forties, not my twenties. She was their rock, their world. 

I don't know if the family will gather each year on the anniversary of the passing. Traditions can be wonderful things to help heal, and to remember her memory. If they do, I hope to be a part of it.

The Shrine Of The Unknown...

 Because I live in Utah, the city in which I live is laid out in a grid. The streets run north/south, east/west. Because of this logical, yet boring system there are several ways for us to reach our house from the city center.. There's one street that I usually take because it's basically a business route, devoid of residential homes and side streets. 

You could say it's a lonely road.

We've lived in this community for a year and a half and every time I take that lonely road, I drive past a small shrine at the side of the road. Last week I decided to stop and snap a few pictures. I don't know what I was expecting to see when I stopped, but I drove away knowing as much about the memorial as I did before I stopped.

I'm assuming it's a spot where someone died. I remember seeing a ton of these crosses on the side of the roads in Montana. I'll see them occasionally at other places, too, but Montana had a lot of them. I thought when I pulled up to the one close to our home it might have a name or a date, or at the very least a "R.I.P." 

I saw nothing.

Nothing except some fake flowers and a beer can (I didn't even look to see if the can was opened--I'm hoping it was empty...). 

Every time I drove by the shrine, I always wondered who it was for. Now, after stopping and checking it out, I'll still wonder who it is honoring as I choose to take the lonely road home.