My experience has been that without
the fear and attempts to ignore death I have an ease about life that I never
had before. It is not that I value life
less, or value death more, it is that I see both as part of the same human
experience and that acceptance has given me a peace that I never had before. Accepting
death and life as equal has not stopped my feelings of loss and grief. I think that is natural also. I am left to live my life without the people
who filled my days with love.
It is especially difficult without my
son because I not only grieve for what I am missing without him in my life but
also for the life that he was denied. Pincus also wrote about regression in
grief and how it should not be seen as a negative sign but as a sign of healthy
growth and adaptation. I think that is true too. Grieving is not a linear experience. There are starts and stops, stumbles and
bumps, re-tracing of steps, plodding forwarding, becoming engulfed by the waves
of grief, and then getting up and moving on again. It doesn’t end at a prescribed time; it isn’t
neat and tidy like many people would like it to be. It is a part of my life
now and it's okay.