I Think About My Mother Every Day.

I Wasn't Prepared For The Fact That Grief Is So Unpredictable. It Wasn't Just Sadness, And It Wasn't Linear. Somehow I'd Thought That The First Days Would Be The Worst And Then It Would Get Steadily Better - Like Getting Over The Flu. That's Not How It Was.

Grief Is At Once A Public And A Private Experience. One's Inner, Inexpressible Disruption Cannot Be Fully Realized In One's Public Persona.

I Believe In The Importance Of Individuality, But In The Midst Of Grief I Also Find Myself Wanting Connection - Wanting To Be Reminded That The Sadness I Feel Is Not Just Mine But Ours.

My Whole Life, I Had Been Taught To Read And Study, To Seek Understanding In Knowledge Of History, Of Cultures.

Relationships Take Up Energy; Letting Go Of Them, Psychiatrists Theorize, Entails Mental Work. When You Lose Someone You Were Close To, You Have To Reassess Your Picture Of The World And Your Place In It. The More Your Identity Was Wrapped Up With The Deceased, The More Difficult The Loss.