Death has never been something easy, it’s something that pains us, breaks us down, makes us question many things. Each death we experience is just as difficult, it’s just as hard as the last. Although death is seen as a sad thing, there are many strangely beautiful things that come with it, if you choose to see them.

Just recently I’ve been coping and dealing with the loss of one of my favorite family members. He was very young, leaving us at the age of just 26, it’s been very hard to look at any sort of positives. Today we went to his funeral and it was only through the tears and the ceremony that I began to see the pure and oddly comforting things that come along with death.

One good thing that death brings us is family and friends. I hadn't seen a lot of my extended family in a few years, and although coming together in this way is heartbreaking, there was so much love and joy seeing one another. Coming together during a hard time makes your relationship with someone dealing with the same loss even stronger than before. Love increases during the dark times and the support strengthens.

We also have the memories and celebration of someone’s life that we get to relive. When someone is gone, the memories come flooding, and while that is difficult at times, we get to relive some of the most wonderful moments. We get to remember the love and joy we had with them. Seeing pictures of someone who is gone is always such a sweet thing, we get to see moments that they experienced and a glimpse into the life we lived.

Not only these things, but with time, comes the realization that they truly aren’t gone. Though physically they can’t be with us, they live on through us. Through those memories and through the strength and love that we carry. And it’s such an oddly beautiful thing to do; to carry on someone’s legacy and life with you. You carry their love, their kindness, their memory, and their passions. They are still here with us.

It takes time. It does, and it’s healthy to take that time and do what’s best for you. There are always little treasures. There is love and joy that appears in strange ways when we lose someone. So we must stay positive when we can, allow ourselves to be low when we must, but remember that there are small beautiful things that come along with the pain. So keep those in mind, because I promise they are there.