rachelteodoro
Grief didn't just change my life. It changed the way I travel.
Before loss entered my world in a way I couldn't ignore, travel was something I carefully postponed. It was planned around responsibilities, schedules, and other people's availability. Trips lived in the vague future of someday, next year, when our schedules free up a bit.
Then my younger brother died.
He was only 42 years old when a very brief illness took him far too soon. He left behind two small children, a family that feels the emptiness of the loss, the heavy burden of uncertainty, and a lifetime of big dreams that never got the chance to be fully lived. Watching someone so young disappear from the future we all assumed he'd have shattered my belief that time is promised.
Grief stripped away the illusion of "later." And in all of that reckoning, it completely rewired how and why I travel.
rachelteodoro
There is no way to fully prepare for the loss of someone that you love. When my 42-year-old brother died suddenly after a very brief illness, I found myself thrown into a new and heartbreaking reality. People often say, "Let me know what I can do," but the truth is, when you're grieving, you don't know what you need. Decision overload becomes all too real. During that first week, I did notice that there were some practical tangible and thoughtful gestures that made my family feel seen and loved by those around us and that made all the difference. If you've never experienced loss before, these things might help you relate to someone you love that's walking through it.
