Some absences are felt most strongly in moments the person would have understood.

Certain moments belong to a specific person. A joke only they would have gotten, a piece of news only they would have understood the weight of, a small victory that would have meant something to them and to almost no one else. Those are the moments the absence is sharpest, because the loss is specific rather than general. You are not missing a person in the abstract; you are missing the one witness who would have known.

When one of those moments comes, tell someone about the person rather than only feeling the gap. Say what they would have said. It keeps their particular way of seeing things in circulation.