They say that we keep people alive in the things that they possessed and things that remind us of them once they are gone. I wonder if this is also true for people who are alive, but no longer in our lives. Do we keep their memories alive in the things that they left for us?

After all, despite choosing to part ways to save ourselves from a toxic, unhealthy dynamic, I have chosen to keep them close in the books that they gifted me. I strangely find their presence in my...