The Math of Grief

It's been minutes since you died. 
It's been a lifetime.
The past year was seconds.
The past year was an eternity.

Twelve and a half years ago you were added to our family.
Our family was whole, was one.
Eleven and a half years later you were taken away.
But we are not equal to what we were before you were born. 
The only change in the equation is you.
You weren't here, and then you were, and then you weren't.
And now we are less than we were before you came into our lives. 
Because now we know what we are missing. 

1+1=2
2+1=a family; everything
3-1=0; without you, nothing else matters
No matter what or who we add to our family, it will never be complete again.
We will forever now be just a compilation of parts, that do not form a whole.