Steps Only My Shoes Remember

Caitlyn learns loss long before she learns how to name it.
Grief walks beside her from childhood, settling quietly into her life-like a pair of shoes she never chose, but grew into anyway.

Each goodbye leaves its mark. Some arrive loudly, like the day her mother is gone. Others leave without explanation, like love that walks away without turning back. Not every loss is seen, but every one is felt-pressed into the ground beneath her steps.

This story begins in the early miles of Caitlyn's life, shaped by memory, absence, and endurance. It is not a record of where she fell, but of how she kept moving. Because a life cannot be measured only by who leaves it, but by the paths we continue to walk-quietly, imperfectly, carrying everything our shoes remember.