My Twin Sister Died 7 Years Ago. I Didn't Expect My Grief To Change Like This — But It Did.

The author (left) and Jenny

Seven years gone feels like both a blink and forever... but is neither. It is this strange middle ground where the grief isn’t new, and it also isn’t long, so it sort of settles in, just beneath the surface.

My identical twin sister died almost seven years ago, just hours after she gave birth to a beautiful, healthy son. Losing Jenny, at age 37, was nothing she or I had prepared for, in the way that none of us want to imagine we will one day (or already do) live without someone we love most.