Goodbyes are hard. Goodbyes after a loss by suicide? Even harder. How can you say, “Goodbye” to someone that you never wanted to let go of? 
Goodbyes occur at the end of something. A conversation, a relationship, a season of our life. There is a story behind the goodbye; a reason why we are saying it. One of the many aspects of suicide that make it so difficult is the fact that no why exists. A story doesn’t necessarily exist, and if it does, it doesn’t make much sense. So how can we say, “Goodbye?” Maybe we don’t. While the person we lost isn’t here physically, their memories are still alive. The grief process isn’t about letting go, or saying, “Goodbye” to the person we lost. It’s about learning who we are, and what our relationship looks like without the person we lost. It’s about mourning the life that we had prior to the suicide, and learning what this new life looks like. Maybe it isn’t about saying, “Goodbye” but accepting that we don’t have to.
