“One gets over the loss of a wallet or a watch. But a loved one, they never leave you. You never get over, you only get through.”
Fourteen years ago today my youngest sister left us. A slick curve, a winding road, a raging river. And in a splash, a crash, a flash of light, a split moment was all it took. And Andrea Lynn Rutledge was taken from our family. 
I’m reminded not to feel the pain today, but rather to feel the joy of how she touched my life in her 32 years with us. How she touched so many lives.
I could not write a book with more feeling, more tragedy, more tears, than this one day brought fourteen short years ago. But Andrea is not gone, and I don’t have to ‘get over’ her. Because I can’t. I will never do that. But I can get through the pain and the feeling of emptiness just by looking at her picture that sits in my living room, and knowing she was one of the most gentle souls I have ever met.
Some day I may write a character that is like my little sister. Beautiful, giving, authentic to the core. But watch out, she may break your heart!
Such beautiful writing. I am sorry for your loss. I lost my Dad last week, so I am grieving also.