Over the past year I have learned that grief is not my enemy. I have not ignored my grief; in fact you can say I embraced it. Grief has been a great teacher for me. These are not lessons I wanted to learn but I found myself in this place.

I believe we live in a grief illiterate society. We are expected to have a quick funeral or memorial, maybe take a couple of days off work, then get up and move on. I will say that I’m thankful that my work colleagues have been the most supportive people ever for this past year and for this year and for that I’m grateful! But in general, we do not allow people (or ourselves) time, space, and grace to mourn.

I hope we can move toward a culture that doesn’t try to sweep death, sadness, and grief under the rug. I think we will help each other heal if we can be more open and honest about death, grief, and mourning.