A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE ON GRIEF

"Grief can't be shared. Everyone carries it alone. His own burden in his own way."

-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Hi Patrice,

Each of us has our own unique way of handling the passing of a loved one. Gail Myers has generously offered us a glimpse of her personal journey following the death of her mother. I'm touched by her willingness to share this with us. Somehow, learning of her experience affirms my freedom to find my own path and release any tendency to judge that I'm somehow doing it wrong.

~ Patrice

Standing in the rain

I am standing in the rain. I am cold. I am wet. It has been four days since my mother has died. My mother was old, she told me she was tired. She had pneumonia. I tried to make her comfortable, I brought her home. She couldn't swallow. I am standing in the rain. Did I let my mother die?

I meet a friend at the grocery store, I tell her, she suggests I get a life coach. I am standing in the rain.

I have a good friend who tells me my mother was old. She reminds me that even my mother said so, I feel she is angry that I am standing in the rain. I should know better.

I am standing in the rain, I am cold and wet. I see my sisters, they too are standing in the rain, we stand together, we are cold and wet but we can even laugh together. It is a relief to stand together in the rain. But we live miles apart and we must part.

[Read the rest of this story and another, 'It was time' here.]

~ Gail Myers

"She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it a sharer in her thoughts."

-- George Eliot