Grateful for grief via /r/gratitude

Today is the anniversary for the worst day of my life. I'm grateful for the love that makes the grief possible. Grateful for the years I had of him shaping me. I'm grateful for the people whose love helped me through his loss, and who help keep him alive in our memories. I'm grateful for the incredible thunderstorm I'm listening to, which he would have loved so much; if I close my eyes, he could be outside watching it right now.

"Every day that you step into my life, you make it brighter, and if you ever left the world, something in me would starve for you forever, as when some barrier rises to shade a plant, which still has light enough to grow some but will never again taste the unbroken sun."

You were an unbroken sun, Daddy, and for that I am grateful.