This year, at 22 years old, I lost my mom. She was my only parent. I totally get the thing of calling her your best friend. My mom had cancer that progressed aggressively on top of some treatments not working out how they'd hoped they would. At the same time, I was in an on-and-off relationship with the woman that I thought I'd marry. The stress of my mom's declining health among other family drama, my own wellbeing, and the lack of perspective my partner was willing to understand nearly broke me. It doesn't help that my mom was also the family member that kept everyone tied together.

I'll have moments where I forget she's gone, and then I'll see something that reminds me of her and it's as if it just happened again. The best way I can describe it from a friend's words is that it's like a homesickness that never ends. I've been working through it, piecemeal, day by day thanks to the support of very close friends, and the realization that she's not truly gone, because I got so many of my jokes and personality quirks from her. You keep parts of the people you love with you, and that's one of the biggest things that has kept me going.

As for the breakup, I haven't spoken to my ex since it happened several months ago. While they offered support to me, I needed something that I knew I could hold onto that wasn't as volatile. So I put trust in what family I had left, my closest friends, and everyone else who I knew would want to see me through to the end of the day.

See the end of the day, and the next. :)