hey wow! sorry i kept keeping the story tab open and only going back to it when i was absolutely ready even in the middle of some scenes. it's just you write so well it made me revisit my feelings when my grandma, then my grandpa passed. and that was all over a decade ago!
and then also my feelings of standing in the hospital when my dad got sick (he's ok now!) but it basically took a miracle.
what truly got me all choked up though is that it made me revisit my brother's abrupt passing. just a couple years ago. i really like the ending. it's not happy and it's not sad. you're asking does it matter? and the simplicity of just hey we're alive.
and it honestly is the best way to deal with that ball of grief when i look at my niece and nephew growing up without him. what makes this story excellent is you made eddie's grief universal and relatable but it also felt true to him and the characters within the 911 universe.
thank you so much for writing it. reading it was painful but beautiful. i can't even imagine what it felt like for you to be able to put poetry down on a page for free for me to leak from my eyeballs willingly for.
oh wow thank you so much!! I love to hear that certain parts have resonated with people and made the whole thing feel real—it's something I really try to ensure when writing.
and I'm glad you liked the ending! it was a bit.... contentious, to say the least. But I think (hope!) it captured that fresh-wound feel of losing someone and the confrontation we're forced into with mortality. You're right—it's not a happy or a sad thing. It just is. (seriously smiling from cheek-to-cheek !! thank you!!)
I'm sorry for the loss you've had in your life, and I'm glad that this felt like something you could connect to.
Wishing you the best!!! <33