We are all, essentially, made of stardust.

No matter where we come from, we are united by the stars.

The elements which make up our bodies, from the iron in our blood cells, to the calcium in our bones, and the carbon in our DNA, were all originally created in the stars.

Literally nothing would exist if it wasn’t for these objects of stellar beauty, nuclear powerhouses forging atoms, creating elements, and releasing minuscule gifts of life’s building blocks when it’s time for that star to die, sometimes as a result of a spectacular Supernova explosion. It’s a process that’s been going on for billions of years (NASA reckons the universe is 13.7 billion years old, give or take 200 million years or so…!).

So we can thank the stars for everything, and everyone, we love.

I’ve seen, in my work supporting bereaved families, that some take comfort in the idea of our bodies returning to these elements after we die, of turning back to stardust.

And because the light from stars takes so long to reach us, when we look up at the night sky, we are literally looking back in time, a beautiful light shining from the past, in the same way we reflect on our memories of those no longer with us. The light from some of the stars in Orion’s Belt takes over 1000 years to reach us – how incredibly humbling.

There is a poem by Nikita Gill, which celebrates this in such a beautiful way, called 93 Percent Stardust. There is also a fantastic book called ‘No Matter What’ by Debi Gliori, which is particularly helpful when talking to children about love, life, and loss, which has the most beautiful line which tells us that, just like starlight, love never dies.