After a loved one had died, the what-ifs can seem like a weight pressing against our hearts. Won’t they finally lighten as the clock keeps ticking and the calendar pages turn? But what if the what-ifs keep troubling us? They can randomly appear, like odd noises jarring sleepers awake in the depths of night.
What if . . .
- My husband had quit smoking years before?
- My wife had gone to the oncologist earlier?
- I hadn’t given that “last” dose of morphine?
- You hadn’t flirted with the passenger on the plane?
Are what-ifs like an airborne virus? Mirriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines disease as:
“a condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms.” [Underlining is mine.]
Grief is not a disease! It’s a normal response to loss for every young and old, outgoing and shy, athletic and geeky, faithful and faithless, clever and awkward, silly and serious, greedy and generous individual. But many aspects of grief impair (or implode) normal functioning. Read More →
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