Today we had our monthly Women’s Grief Group at Lynn Haven Methodist Church. We welcomed a couple of new guests who have experienced more recent losses….. It was a poignant reminder for others of us, taking us right back to those early months of fresh grief and reminding us how far we’ve come in moving out of the “beginning of the end of life as it was” and through the numbness and motions of transitioning toward the “end of the beginning of life as it will be.” One day I realized I had moved from season to season, doing what needed to be done… from questioning to decided, from there to here, from then to now. from “us” to “me,” from half of a whole to cooking for one.
The grief never shrinks, but one’s life begins to grow again around it, making the ratio of grief-to-life at least a little less intrusive on daily activities….like a treasure one holds close, carefully, that is taken out and held in hands that long to remember there and then….. always.
“Today I took care of the final detail associated with my recent sale and purchase of homes and the move- filing for the transfer of the property tax homestead exemption and s widow’s credit.
I also completed what I think is the final detail associated with matters of Bill’s death- filing for the newly available funeral assistance fund through FEMA. This benefit opened online on 4/12/21 for COVID deaths after 1/30/20, if it is applicable to your family member’s loss.
I had also spent much of the day sorting through photo albums and transferring all of the pix -of five generations of both of our families- to more compact box storage.
It’s been an emotional day………”
( From 4/15/23 memories)