[zw123456]

Maybe, a little piece of someone lives on in our hearts, memories, things like that. Not magic, just memories of love for someone.

Look. My Ma was sick, and hurting, I held her hand, we pinky swore over something silly, we knew that, it made her smile amongst a lot of pain. I light a candle, and think about all the times she was there for me.

The rest of it? Who cares.

[dTal]

I don't think anyone here wants to diminish your touching story. HN tends to use comments more or less as writing prompts, especially when the discussion veers philosophical.

[Volundr]

100%. If my comment was taken as any kind of detraction from the GP's story I truly apologize that was not how it was intended. I think it and the many stories here are meaningful and serve as an important reminder to connect to your loved ones while they are here. My grandparents all died when I was a teenager/early 20s, and I deeply regret that I didn't do more to connect to them while they were here. It's something I still think about, and the only positive is that it's prompted me to reconnect/better connect with my parents who I had kind of drifted away from at the same time.