HUG Corner: Thought for the Week 8/26/19

Healing After Loss (Martha Whitmore Hickman)

“Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies.
And be it gash or gold it will now come
Again in this identical.”

– Gwendolyn Brooks

For a while we are so infused with grief over our loss that we can think of little else. Everything else seems an intrusion. If people call us on other matters, we think, Don’t you know there isn’t space in my life for that right now?

But grieving can be habit-forming, and after a while we need to move on. Retreat into our own small world and its painful security will not protect us from further dangers. But is may keep us from savoring the world – its beauties and relationships, which are also passing, and which our loved one would want us to enjoy to the full. 

My small son once endeared himself to me by saying, as he stood at the doorway of my room, where I was, atypically, still in bed, “How can I have any fun downstairs when I know you’re up here with the flu?” Gratifying, but I wouldn’t have wanted him to spend the morning moping around – and I’m sure he didn’t!

As I am able, I will reenter the world around me with courage and expectation.