Short Story Sunday: One More Winter by Rebecca K. O'Connor

Mary has spent much of her life waiting for the time that she can let go of her MIA husband and find closure, not just for her but her daughter Teresa who was very young when her father went off to war.  Over the years Mary and Teresa have learned that grief has its own course and that closure isn't something you can just make happen.  When Mary discovers a dead dog while on a walk, she contacts the owner and quickly finds that her time for closure is upon her.

One More Winter by Rebecca K. O'Connor is a short story that was originally written to help O'Connor through her own experience of loss.  She was the owner contacted by someone else and through the story, O'Connor imagines the life of the person she met only briefly on the phone. 

I thought this was a beautiful, heart-tugging story.  I had trouble understanding the characters of Mary and Teresa only because I didn't connect to them as the age they were portrayed (Mary read to me as being the age Teresa actually was.)  But once I was able to get past that, I saw how grief and hope can really take over people's lives and how there is no one set journey to overcoming the pain.

When it comes to stories about grief I think there is a fine line between making the story poignant and making the story feel depressing.  O'Connor writes in way that connects the reader to the grief without it taking them over, making for a poignant read. 

One More Winter is available for free download on Amazon Kindle here.

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