When we were younger, friendship was simple. It was sitting together at lunch, playing tag at recess and if you fought, making up over a pack of skittles or a shared cone of ice cream. Hurt feelings were patched with hugs and promises to always be friends, no matter what.
My fifteen-year-old sister had been hit by a drunk driver and killed instantly. I remember standing at the coffin, confused and afraid, with no explanation from the adults around me. That moment left an imprint on me, though I couldn’t understand it at the time. I was only seven years old, and I had already experienced the fragility of life.
I am fortunate to say that I have made friendships with many people that have helped me along this journey called life. They have been with me through some good times and some bad times but there are few that are in my “front row” of life. There are three women who are the sisters that were not born to my parents but the ones that are there through the good and the bad, ups and downs, and everything in between.
Grief is an experience everyone will have at one point or another in life. There is no way around it, under it, or over it. It is happening. It has happened. It will happen.
Grief is a natural response to loss or change. While most people equate loss only with physical loss by way of death,…
Many of you may not know this, but I am fiercely independent. One of my weaknesses has been not wanting to ask for help or appear “weak.” I have often been the person who would search the internet to fix something myself instead of calling a repair person or asking a friend for help.
