Midnight at the Blackbird Café

by Heather Webber

“We survive on sweet tea and complaining, plain and simple. Mostly the sweet tea, if I’m tellin’ it to you straight.”

Hell yeah brother

Grief was a capricious companion. Sometimes distant and aloof. Sometimes so overwhelming it was hard to think a straight thought. Its mood changed at whim, making it emotionally exhausting to keep up.

There were times, like right now, when it felt as though I’d been grieving my whole life long. Probably because I had been.

“But sweetie, letting go is the only way you can fly.”

I was leaving this town soon, but when I left, I didn’t have to pack that heavy hatred along with my quilt, like always. The choice was mine.

I could only shake my head at my strategy to keep people at arm’s length. It had proven impossible. I’d done the complete opposite. I’d become a hugger.

The past can’t change, but people can. Going forward, I’m taking the lessons I learned from all that pain with me, but it’s time to leave the pain behind.

“That a person you love is never truly gone—they’re always there, whether it’s in a memory … or a dream.” Or in a heart.

For where your roots are, your heart is.