Loss Is So Paradoxical: It Is At

Many Americans Don't Mourn In Public Anymore - We Don't Wear Black, We Don't Beat Our Chests And Wail.

I Was Not Raised With Religion, And I Had No Faith Before My Mother Died. On The Other Hand, When She Died, I Did Not Immediately Feel She Was "gone." I Don't Believe She Is In Something Like Heaven, But I Also Feel That We Don't Understand Much About The Nature Of The Universe. So I Hold On To That Uncertainty, At Times.

The Truth Is, I Need To Experience My Mother's Presence In The World Around Me And Not Just In My Head.

A Death From A Long Illness Is Very Different From A Sudden Death. It Gives You Time To Say Goodbye And Time To Adjust To The Idea That The Beloved Will Not Be With You Anymore.

Nothing Prepared Me For The Loss Of My Mother. Even Knowing That She Would Die Did Not Prepare Me.