I Hope You Remember Quotes

“Wounds have no choice but to heal eventually And you will find something else to cry about But it won’t be them”
― Josie Balka, I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living

“*I’m going to miss you forever —*
*do you know that?*

I will spend the rest of my life
missing you
in big ways
and small ways
and medium ways—
in all ways.

I’m going to miss you.

There aren’t many things
that last forever,
but missing people —
it never, ever ends.

Even people
you shouldn’t miss,
or don’t want to miss,
or who don’t deserve
to be missed.

That feeling will creep in
like a robber on his tiptoes.
He’s in there
and there’s nothing you can do.

And it’s beautiful,
because I know
I’ll never forget
to keep missing you,
even when the spaces
between remembering
and forgetting
get longer.

But it’s awful, too,
because you only have to miss someone
when they’re gone.

Sometimes I’ll miss you
and I’ll know
that’s what I’m doing.

And sometimes
it’ll just be an emptiness,
or an ache
that creeps in.

And I’ll take a moment
to ponder what hurts
and where it’s coming from,
and my body will clue into
the difference between
the pain of a cut on my hand
and the grief
of you being gone.

And then I’ll remember.

And I’ll miss you then, too.

For all my days.
Not every day—
but in little pieces
until the end of time.

I am going to miss you forever,
and I find so much peace
and so much pain
in that
all at once.”
― Josie Balka, I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living

“Choosing adult friends is saying I love who you are And I’m grateful for all the friends And experiences and lessons that life handed you before Because they shaped you in a way That fits so beautifully with the way mine shaped me”
― Josie Balka, I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living

“But most times you don’t know you’re driving on ice until you’re in the ditch”
― Josie Balka, I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living

“I feel like I didn’t get quite enough time with the quiet.”
― Josie Balka, I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living

“But both are equally worthy And there truthfully never has been a version of you That you thought was good while it was yours You only wanted it back after it was gone And that cycle will continue for the rest of your life.”
― Josie Balka, I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living

“The version of you that wore smaller pants The version of you that wore ten sizes bigger than you do now All those versions are good The you in the photos way back in your camera roll that make your heart sink Because you feel you’ve let yourself go—that version and this version? Both good The version of you that you’d never want to mentally feel like But still wish you physically looked like”
― Josie Balka, I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living