Front Porch Reflections

Flip the Script

5/30/2026

I’ve noticed over the years that grief has a way of settling into the stories we tell ourselves. Sometimes those stories are true, and sometimes they become so familiar we stop questioning them.

You’ll never feel joy again.
Your life is over.
Everyone else gets to move forward but you.

I understand those thoughts more than I wish I did.

A few years ago, I wrote the following reverse poem after thinking about how differently life can look depending on which direction we’re facing and which lens we’re looking through. Sometimes the smallest shift in perspective doesn’t erase grief, but it changes the way we carry it.

— Charlene