mourning a loss

another from the prayers and processions series


++++


“Daddy, which one is it?” asks Madi, 6, as she and her brother, Justin, 9, look downward at a line of gravestones.

Their father, Justin Young, replies quietly, “It's right over here baby, don't you remember?”

The three gather around the marker of Kathleen Young, the children's mother, and his wife. They have come on Mother's Day, to pay respects to Kathleen, who was killed last year in a car wreck. She's buried at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Norfolk.

Madi drapes herself over her father, and her brother sits by their side. A light breeze lifts Madi's blond hair across her face.

“I'm really feeling her loss right now,” says Justin, of his wife. “I'm the mom and the dad now, but a dad no matter how hard he tries, will not be a mom.”

Justin sighs heavy as he stares at her grave.

“I just want to reach in and pick her up and hold her one more time.”