There was a death in my family this past week. My grandmother. She died just after her 89th birthday, the morning of Super Bowl Sunday. I knew that she did not have long when I left for London, but part of me had hoped that I would be able to see her when I came back. It is hard to know that I will not see her again and I am sure that those like my mother, who knew her better than I did, are hurting more than I am. It is always like this, when someone close dies, but if there is one thing that I have learned it is that even when someone dies, they continue to live on.

There are many theories about what happens to the soul once its mortal vessel fades, most of which come from religion, but whether the soul goes to heaven, undergoes reincarnation, or even stays on this mortal plain as a ghost one fact remains the same. The soul survives. The soul is able to survives the death of its physical body and leave this world for another, but how? How can a soul do this? What keeps it alive? What allows a soul to survive when its earthly vessel did not?

These questions have been repeating in my head this past week. A near infinite number of possibilities that could await me when I breathe my final breath. I am not going to lie, the thought scares me, but I realized something. No matter where the soul goes, no matter what happens to it, it will always leave something behind. Something that not only links it to our world, but gives it the strength to move on. Memories.

Everyone that has died was someone, even if their name was unknown. They were someone's son, daughter, wife, husband, lover, child, friend. They all meant something to someone. They were connected to someone and, even after death, that connection remains stronger than steel. It is the memories of the lost that bind them to this world, to us. Through their life, they create memories with those they interact with. The create stories, stories that capture who they were and who they still are.

It is these memories that keep a soul alive. The memories of who they were to the people that were important to them lasts forever and keeps them in our hearts. As long as we remember our time with them, we keep their souls alive. We keep them alive. We, the ones that remain on in this world, are the ones that make sure they live on. So, whenever someone passes away, mourn for them, but do not forget them. They may be physically gone, but they will always be with us and we will always be with them.