3 years - Still Loved, Still Missed 🦋

Three years without my Grandson

It’s a strange measure of time when you are grieving. In some ways, it feels like yesterday. In others, it feels like a lifetime has passed since I last held my grandson.

Three years without his laughter, his little hands reaching out, his smile that could light up a room. Three years of milestones missed, birthdays that never came, and family moments with an empty space that no one else can fill.

How Grief Changes Families

What people don’t always talk about is how grief changes families.

We all carry our sorrow differently, and sometimes that means we don’t understand one another the way we used to. Relationships shift. Silence falls where words once came easily. At times, grief has drawn us closer, and at other times, it has felt like it pushed us apart.

This, too, is part of the heartbreak—losing the life we once knew in more ways than one. For those who have experienced child loss or the loss of a grandchild, this truth is deeply familiar.

Love That Doesn’t Fade

Grief doesn’t have an ending point. It changes shape, it softens in places, but it remains part of who we are. Love like this doesn’t fade with time—it stays, just as strong as ever.

Eric is still loved, still missed, every single day. His memory continues to guide us, even when our hearts ache for what should have been.

Carrying His Memory Forward

Over these years, I’ve learned that grief is not about “moving on.” It’s about learning how to carry the love forward.

For me, that has meant honoring his life through the Eric Elliott Memorial Scholarship Fund, supporting others in his name, and speaking openly about grief so no one feels alone in theirs.

If you are grieving too—whether your loss was recent or decades ago—I want you to know: your love matters. Your grief is real. And the person you miss is worth remembering, worth speaking about, and worth carrying forward.

⸻

Three years. Still loved. Still missed. Always remembered.

With love,

The Grieving Grandma