She graduated from high school on May 27, 1993. She was so excited, yet so scared. A new phase of her life was about to begin. A few months before, she had told me she could not see a future. She was uncertain what her future would be. I had tried to soothe her by assuring her that not everyone had their future mapped out at seventeen.
And then, just a week later–June 2, to be exact, she got in her car and backed out of the driveway to our home, never to return. Her new life had begun. A life not of this world but of the next.
As of this writing, she will have passed from the life to the next 29 years ago. Over time, I have often wondered what she would look like, but then I think-I know. She will forever be seventeen years old. I believe she lives in a glorified body. A body fully restored her. A body that does not get sick or become diseased. A body that is eternal.
I think about children who had died for whatever reason, whether it be from a tragic accident, a sickness such as cancer, or whether it is from a natural disaster such as an earthquake, a tornado, etc. People experience life-altering tragedy and shattered lives. I recall the tragic incident in Uvalde, Texas, this past year. It forever changed the survivors of this horrific incident. It forever changed the children who lost their lives.
It is important the Uvalde survivors grieve the death of their children or the adult that lost their life in this incident. However, it will be just as important for them to move through the grieving process.
Grief can be a complicated emotion, but there are ways someone can learn to deal with it. Grief should not become a way of life. It is necessary to recognize the emotion of grief. Grief has many phases we work through. As we work through each phase, we discover more ourselves and how the death of our loved ones has affected our life.
In the beginning, my grief was devastating. As time passed, it developed into something different. A quiet sadness that touched my life and was clear on some days. My grief for my daughter became part of who I am. On the days it visits, I have learned to sit in the moment and experience it. Then I move on in the belief we will be together again one day. This is how I manage my grief. I manage my grief by acceptance. Accepting it for what it is. Another emotion that I experience. Just as I experience happiness, anger, sadness, and love. We will experience grief throughout life. In many forms and on many levels. Grief is another human emotion that is part of the human psyche that is unique to each individual. It is an emotion we will all experience. It is how we respond to the experience that will define how it affects our lives.
