Emma Heming Willis has penned a powerful essay about the grief that comes with celebrating the holiday season amid her husband Bruce Willis' dementia battle.
In a post on her website, titled "The Holidays Look Different Now," Heming Willis, 47, opened up about living through what she described as a "web of grief" during the holidays.
"For me, the holidays carry memories of Bruce being at the center of it all," she wrote. "He loved this time of year — the energy, family time, the traditions. He was the pancake-maker, the get-out-in-the-snow-with-the-kids guy, the steady presence moving through the house as the day unfolded. There was comfort in the routine of knowing exactly how the day would go, especially since I'm a creature of habit. Dementia doesn't erase those memories. But it does create space between then and now. And that space can ache."
Heming Willis went on to share that she finds herself "cursing Bruce's name while wrestling with the holiday lights or taking on tasks that used to be his," not because she is mad at him but "because I miss the way he once led the holiday charge."
Emma Heming Willis, Bruce Willis, my dad and me
