Unexpected

I recently visited with a friend whose daughter had passed away. As we were talking she asked me if the grief gets any easier. I told her it never gets easier, you just learn to live with it, and that it can hit you at unexpected moments.
That happened to us this weekend. We were at a neice's baptism, and someone was giving a talk and all of the sudden Megan was crying and leaning on my arm. At first I just brushed her off because I thought she was just wanting attention for something silly. But as she continued to be emotional, I finally put her on my lap and asked her what was wrong. It took her awhile to answer and when she finally did she said, "That talk reminded me of Grandma." And then she started sobbing, which of course made me cry as well.
Sometimes I forget how much all of these changes have affected her. Most of the time I think that she won't remember either my Mom or Lindsey much, but she does. She was very close with Lindsey and still talks of her often. She was also very close with my Mom because we lived so close. We saw her almost everyday and Megan and my Mom had special things they did together.
This weekend was a good lesson for me to not wallow in my own self pity for the losses I've had but to remember that my family has had the same losses and it hurts them as well. And as we come upon another holiday season without my Mom and Lindsey, hopefully we can still remember the great times we had with them, but look forward to having good times of our own.