Surviving Grief

💔 Real Grief Doesn’t Fade – It Deepens with Love "Real grief is not healed by time… If time does anything, it deepens our grief..." —Henri Nouwen, Healing After Loss 🕯️ The Frightening Truth About Grief At first, this idea is terrifying. Grief deepening? Will I ever feel better? But as days pass, I’ve started to understand what Henri Nouwen meant. As time unfolds, so do memories. The more time we have to reflect, the more fully we realize who our loved one truly was to us. Their love—the kind we may have taken for granted while they were alive—becomes clearer, sharper, and yes, sometimes more painful in their absence. 🕳️ The Depth of the Loss It has been 24 days since Mark passed away. I thought Bryce and I were managing. But today, it hit me—we’re drowning. Neither of us is sleeping. I feel like I’m spiraling. Even the computer, my comfort tool, feels like a stranger. I told Bryce today, half-joking, half-serious, “Maybe we should just sell everything and live in ou...

  🎆 Freedom to Grieve: A Reflection on the Fourth of July 🕯️ Opening Reflection "The evenings were the hardest to bear. The ritual of the hot drink, the lumps of sugar for the two dogs, the saying of prayers... I continued the ritual, because this too lessened pain, and was, in its very poignancy, a consolation." —Daphne Du Maurier, as quoted in Healing After Loss by Martha Whitmore Hickman 🕊️ Grieving Through the Celebrations Holidays are often painted with the colors of celebration, fireworks, and joy. But for those of us who are grieving, they can feel more like quiet shadows than bursts of light. This Fourth of July, while the world celebrates freedom, I find myself navigating a different kind of liberty— the freedom to feel deeply, to mourn openly, and to carry both joy and sorrow in the same breath. ✨ Holding On to Rituals I thought about rituals today. The waving of the flag. The family gathered around the grill, laughing. Fireworks paint the sky. These t...