Quiet Sounds

Death is something that is hard for a lot of people to process. We all have our own grieving process when a loved one dies. My own process with losing loved ones revolves around the silence that falls after they have passed. I fully identified this phenomenon when my grandmother suddenly passed away from cancer in 2020. My grandmother was one of my best friends and supporters, so her passing was so shocking that it left me feeling empty and alone. These feelings were amplified through the silence which took place in the world after she passed away.

My grandmother died right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I remember leaving the hospital after her passing, and walking around the streets of downtown Everett, Washington; the downtown was silent. This was the loudest, and most isolating silence I have experienced in my life. Amplified by COVID-19 lockdown, the silence consumed my entire grieving process.

Thinking to other times when I have lost loved ones and colleagues, I remember this eerily loud silence; it is always there. This silence inspired me to write “Quiet Sounds” --- primarily dedicated to the memory of my Grandmother, but also anyone whose experienced this silence after great loss.