Some days grief arrives softly; others it remembers your exact address.

Grief keeps its own schedule. Weeks pass in a manageable low hum, and then one afternoon it arrives with full detail, knowing exactly which memory to open and when. There is no pattern you can prepare for reliably, which is part of what makes it exhausting. The unpredictability is not a sign that you are doing it wrong.

Build a small plan for the sharp days before they come. Know who you would call, what you would let go of, where you would go. Having decided that in advance means you do not have to make decisions in the middle of it.