An Olive Branch

The sun was shining and it was warm enough to open the doors. Someone sent me an olive tree as a gift yesterday, so I carried it to the patio and put it out in the sunshine. I sat outside for a bit and stared up at the sky, then noticed the neighbour's tree starting to bud. Signs of spring are starting to emerge. Daffodils. Magnolia buds. Slightly longer days. 

After the school pick-up, we stopped at the bookstore to get a book for next week's book swap. We passed the vet Beta went to on Tuesday and my heart sunk. On a more positive note, I only cried once today. That's definitely progress. It's going to take time. Everything reminds me of her. So many habits. So many routines. It reminds me of something I read a while back: 

Grief "comes from the frustration of so many impulses that had become habitual. Thought after thought, feeling after feeling, action after action... Now their target is gone...So many roads once; now so many cul de sacs.'

C.S Lewis in 'A Grief Observed'