When the Rain Ends

by Mary Ellen Taylor

What-ifs didn’t matter. If Dani had learned anything, it was that the universe didn’t care what she wanted. Like the ocean, it swept in and reshaped the beaches and dunes at will, and it never once considered the destruction in its wake.

“Sadness is not totally bad. It means the person you lost mattered.”

“Bad times are guaranteed. God knows I’ve seen my share, and so have you. No getting around it. But if you hang in there long enough, the world does turn, and the good times follow.”

But that’s what grief did. It was patient, always lurking in the shadows, ready to spoil a happy moment, sour a day, or prompt unexpected tears.