Remembering

photo from my instagram (@natalieallison)

i try not to share too much personal information on my blog– after all, it is a style blog– but i’ve noticed a trend among bloggers lately {even style bloggers} to share bits and pieces of their life. personally, i don’t mind it at all. i like feeling that i know them a little bit better, and relate to them a little bit more. if you’re like me and don’t mind those kinds of posts, read on. if you’re exclusively looking for fashion-content, that’s okay too- please come back and see me very soon. but for today, i want to take a little departure from the usual programming to remember someone who touched my life in a way that changed me forever, someone i miss all the time: my cousin elliott. today marks the five-year anniversary of his passing– an amount of time that is almost impossible to comprehend. on one hand, it seems like yesterday that i saw his smile and gave him a hug, but on the other it seems like forever since he’s been here with us. as much as august 15th always brings the heart-aching reminder of how much we miss elliott and how much it hurts that he was taken from us so early, it also brings about the much-needed reminder that life is short, we are not guaranteed tomorrow, and today is all we ever really have. the nearly 21 years we had with elliott will never be enough, especially for his parents, but the memories of those years are what we have in this lifetime, on this earth. so today i remember elliott, and i am reminded to be thankful for each moment i have with those i love. tell the ones you love that you love them, and hug them tight. you never know when it will be the last time you get to say those words or give that hug. elliott, we are forever thankful for the gift of your life. we miss you today, and every day.

“i am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind, still you hear me when i’m calling, lord you catch me when i’m falling, and you’ve told me who i am, i am yours.”

xoxo natalie