Lessons of Lingering Loss -
Ten Lessons sudden death taught me about Living with Grief
A truism: Death is part of life.
By the time we reach a certain age, the undeniability of death becomes a basic fact. People get sick, have accidents, acquire disease, undergo surgery, suffer from mental disorders, grow old, succumb to injuries, and die.
There’s no coming back from death — not in this lifetime, anyhow.
The permanency of death permeates life. Regardless of our culture, philosophy, or spiritual standpoint, death will visit us all. Worse yet, it will steal those we love.
I sometimes feel as if death has it in for me.
Listening to Nina Simone’s silken voice last night, a hard knot knit itself into my heart as she crooned Albert King’s gravelly lyrics:
Born under a bad sign
Been down since I began to crawl
If it wasn’t for bad luck, you know I wouldn’t have no luck at all.
I heard, felt, and breathed those words, thinking:
“Yes, death’s dark sign has marked my life.”
When I was 30, I stood at my mother’s bed and watched her slowly deteriorate from pancreatic cancer. She was 62 — and not some unhealthy…
