11/27/2025
You can be surrounded by people
and still feel the space they used to fill
louder than anything else in the room.
Everyone talks, laughs, passes plates,
and you sit there trying to keep yourself grounded
while your mind drifts to the one face you wish you still had across from you.
It’s wild how one empty spot
can mess with your whole sense of “holiday.”
You glance that way without even thinking,
like some part of you still expects them to be there.
Like a part of you refuses to catch up to the reality you’re living.
And nobody really sees it.
They see you sitting there.
They see you “making it through the day.”
They don’t see what it does to you
knowing that a whole part of your life is missing from this table
and there’s nothing you can do to fix it.
Thanksgiving, for some of us,
isn’t about the food or the tradition.
It’s about getting through a day
that reminds you—
in the most unforgiving way—
who you lost.
If you’re sitting down today
and pretending you’re fine when you’re not…
you’re not alone.
Some of us show up to the table
with a smile that doesn’t match how we feel inside,
hoping nobody notices
how much it still hurts.
