I dare not

Whenever I see someone that I have not seen for a while, their only comment is that I look good. It is as if I am supposed to look like a rag because I lost my son. Often people ask me as to how I am feeling. I say that I am fine. It is because I am afraid to tell them otherwise as I would fear that they would use the lingo that I am “stuck in my grief” or I am “not letting go” or that “I should see someone”.  I do not dare tell them about the excruciating pain that visits me on a daily basis. I dare not talk about my swollen eyelids due to the continual leaking of tears on a daily basis. I dare not talk about the deep sense of loss and void that surrounds me. I dare not express the loneliness that fills my heart and soul on a daily basis. I dare not talk about the feelings of despair that come and go. I dare not talk about feeling dislodged from this earth with no roots to hold me down. I dare not talk about the deep longing of being reunited with my son.

Necessary Losses

At one of the recent grief groups that I attended the leader had an article on “Necessary Losses” which was the theme for that meeting. I was disturbed by it.

People talk about” moving on”; “letting go”; “the new normal” and using language like “necessary losses”. I do not like the lingo that is being used. Just like there is lingo for alcoholism and drug abuse there is lingo for grief. We seem to be stuck with certain words and do not use our own real feelings to express the truth. There is nothing wrong with saying that you do not want to let go of your child. How could you? He is a part of you. You are forever connected. Yet if you say that in front of others they think that you are” stuck in your grief” and that you are not” moving on”. I continue to work and function as before, but I am not going to pretend that I did not lose my son. I do not consider that a “necessary loss” to make me better and to gain something from the loss. I could gain something from many other experiences in life, but it does not have to be through the death of my precious and only son. Of course I look at life differently and of course I have changed and of course I feel more connected to God and nature. That does not mean that my loss was necessary.