Grief is like the Ocean

The death of a loved one has an unexpected side effect of making most people one interacts with quite uncomfortable. I have experienced that very few people know what to say to me, or whether to mention my Mom at all. I am always very touched when someone does make an effort to address the elephant in the room. That said, when the rare person genuinely asks me how I am, I am equally lost with how to answer!

I've been having a very hard time putting into words any of the thoughts and emotions I have been experiencing the past 2 months since my Mom's passing. It has been such a new and strange experience for me, that it is hard to really describe a very incoherent experience in coherent words.

A few nights ago, on the eve of her 2 month anniversary, this poem spontaneously flowed from heart to paper and made me realise that grief feels like a lot like the waves of the open ocean, ebbing and flowing and swirling every which way without much direction.

 
Two months
8 and a half weeks
Heart hurts
Tears roll down cheeks
 
Joyful now
Sad a minute after
Dark clouds
Broken by laughter
 
New normal
You have the weirdest face
Tidal grief
With a splash of grace

~ Michelle

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