One Night, All of Us Again

There are moments that arrive unexpectedly—not wrapped in joy, but in sorrow. The kind that shouldn't bring smiles, and yet somehow, quietly, they do.

A loved one had passed, and like it always does, news of loss carried with it a reunion. Relatives from different cities came, faces I hadn’t seen in years. There was grief in the air, yes. A heaviness that lingered in the silences and the lowered voices. But there was also warmth—familiar laughter, shared stories, the comfort of presence.

It wasn’t an ideal situation. It never is, when someone leaves this world. But in the midst of the sadness, there was this fragile kind of happiness—one that tiptoed in through shared meals, old jokes, and side glances that said, *“It’s been too long.”*

And during those quiet pockets of togetherness, I found myself wishing I could freeze the moment. Hold it still—not to erase the sorrow, but to preserve the togetherness. To bottle up the feeling of being surrounded by people who knew my roots, who shared my history, who reminded me of a version of life I sometimes forget exists.

We rarely see each other. Life, distance, and time all have a way of stretching people apart. One day turns into months, and months into years, and before you know it, you’ve become strangers with people who once filled your childhood with color. But somehow, in grief, we found each other again. And while the reason for the gathering was painful, the memories born from it—those will stay with me. Etched into the heart, where the truest things always linger.

Because sometimes, even in loss, life gives us something quietly beautiful. A reminder that love doesn’t always shout. Sometimes, it just sits beside you, quietly present, in the middle of a sad night, making space for tears and laughter to exist side by side.

These moments may never return. The same people, in the same place, feeling that same way. But they happened. And they mattered. And though the days will move on, the memory of that night—the ache and the warmth of it—will never fade.

au revoir. 🙃