Twelve years and I'm still not used to his leaving.

I don't know that I will be able to write a post after my partner leaves, so this is left scheduled just in case. From Khalil Gibran's The Prophet, his chapter on Joy and Sorrow:

Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow."
      And he answered:
      Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
      And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
      .....
      When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
      When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
......     
      Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
      Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
      Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
      When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

This, too, will pass, I know. Just as the glorious six months we had together as a family slipped quickly through our fingers, this absence, too, will slip quickly by.