Do I dare write about grief?  I have been mulling it over.  Unless we are a total, complete, selfish clod, it is something we all experience, for a variety of reasons, throughout our life.

Yes, I will write about grief.  It is part of who I am.  Hi, I’m Marla.  I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and widow.  I am the Member Services Representative at my local electric cooperative.  I like to read, walk, work puzzles, garden, putter, work with livestock and I have grief.  It is not accurate to say, I have grieved…as though it was something I accomplished or put behind me.  Rather, it is a part of my person.  Sometimes I dream about grief.  I have experienced the five stages.  I accept it.  I don’t like it.  It is what it is.

Just like Charlie Brown, I often say, “Good grief…”  Then, I think, “How absurd!  What is good about it?”  Upon closer inspection maybe there is some good in it.

Grief has taught me to not take life for granted.

It has softened … and hardened me.

It has challenged me.

It has made me question myself and my beliefs.

It made me reach a low point and ask for help.

My advice to anyone grieving is to feel it, acknowledge it, but do not let it stagnate you into one spot for very long.  Strap it on like a backpack, if you must, but move.  Live your life.  I do not believe that wallowing in grief is the way to remember.  I believe that living is the way to remember and honor.