Transience: From Failure to Future in a Scarred Family

“Any arrival at dawn necessitates the navigation of night beforehand. It is written in the very cycle of life. History is continuously being written and rewritten, and every breath serves us another glorious opportunity to forge forward from the past. That said, humanity is doomed to repeat that past without perpetual recognition of its history. I never knew that a battle that could be lost had actually been won. As I trundled to the hospice elevator, tear-stained face in open sight, I tried to grasp the greater tragedy: that my father had died, or that we had never had a loving relationship. I had thought silence might be welcome at that point, but I was wrong.”