I hope for less

Over the past week, people who I care about tremendously from my home town have suffered horrible losses.  Both of the deaths that occurred to leave the feeling of emptiness and confusion were also people that I cared greatly about.  I cared about them because they were amazing individuals who would have given the shirt off their backs if you asked.  They were both very different men, in the way they lived their lives, but their hearts were both huge.  Each man deserves his own recognition, separate from the other.  They should not be given half the praise because they are connected by dying at a similar time.  We should never be defined by death.  But now that they are gone, the living must go on, even if it's one shuffle at a time.

My true heartache goes to those who are left to suffer the repercussions of their deaths.  Amazing and wonderful people are left to pick up the pieces and figure out how to march on with their own lives without the life of their husband, father, brother, friend.  I am sad for the situations that created this loss.  I am sad for those who are gone, but I am overcome with grief for my friends living an entirely new life.

I just cannot find a way to express how much I wish I could cure the pain.

I have seen three Facebook statuses today asking we all want more of in 2014.  While thinking about it I realized that everything that I want more of comes by wanting less.

I want less pain in 2014.
I want less loss.
I want less stuff in 2014, as simplicity is the only thing that makes sense anymore.
I want less MUST DOs so that we can enjoy our why nots.
I want less leaving behind in 2014 even with our moving forward.
I want less pressure to remember the good times so that the good times can just be.
I want less sadness, fewer reasons for grief, fewer broken hearts.
I certainly want less confusion.
I want less distance between those we love and ourselves.  

I want a lot less.

Wanting more is what's left me here.

So here's to living a lot better with a lot less.