09/01/2026
Today is International Overdose Awareness Day.
Today I am thinking about the people who should still be here.
The friends whose laughter we no longer hear. The sons and daughters whose families carry an empty space that can never truly be filled. The parents, siblings, partners, children, coworkers, classmates, and neighbors whose lives were forever changed by a loss that came far too soon.
Overdose deaths are often discussed in numbers, reports, and statistics. But every number represents a person. A life. A story. Someone who was loved and whose absence continues to be felt every day by the people who knew them.
Today is a day to remember those lives. To honor their memory. To acknowledge the grief that remains long after the headlines fade and the attention moves on. For many families, the pain of losing someone to overdose does not end after a funeral or memorial service. It becomes something they carry with them every day.
I am also thinking of those who continue to grieve in silence. The people who have experienced loss and often feel isolated by stigma, shame, or misunderstanding. No one should have to mourn alone, and no one should feel that the life of the person they lost is somehow less worthy of remembrance.
Today many of us will wear purple, attend vigils, share photographs, tell stories, or simply spend a few quiet moments thinking about someone we miss. We remember not how people died, but how they lived. We remember their smiles, their sense of humor, their kindness, their struggles, their hopes, and the unique impact they had on those around them.
The overdose crisis has touched nearly every community and countless families, including many here in Western Massachusetts. Behind every loss is a ripple effect that extends far beyond what most people ever see. The grief is real. The love is real. The memories remain.
To everyone who has lost someone to overdose, please know that you are not alone today. Your grief matters. Your loved one mattered. Their life mattered. Their memory matters.
Today we remember those we have lost, support those who continue to grieve, and honor the lives that left us too soon.
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