Loss in all its forms!

      Two nights ago I posted a quote by Dean Koontz. A friend thanked me for the quote and reported how he planned to use it in addressing persons grieving the loss of a beloved institution. Death provokes grief but so does any loss, large or small, the depth of the grief related to the value of who or what was lost.
      Miscarriages, still births and infant deaths, and the grief they cause, can be complicated by misunderstanding and the private nature of the loss. A picture of Kao Kalia Yang, who is one of my favorite authors, caught my eye in the Minneapolis paper today, StarTribune p. E12. This is in the book section and a huge headline said Delivering untold stories of loss. Yang, who is Hmong, and Shannon Gibney, who is African American, have produced a book entitled What God is Honored Here?:Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color.  Their purpose they said "...'creating a container to help folks process trauma,' and how it can make readers feel less alone."
    Gibney is a new writer to me but I know that Yang can write powerful prose of deep emotion.
    On the same page of the Strib is a review of The Big Book of the Dead, Marion Winik, the article about it is entitled A big book of praise songs for those who have left us. The article begins "Why do we listen to songs that remind us of lost friends and lovers? Why do we love to hear stories of family members who have died? In 'The Big Book of the Dead,' Marion Winik argues that we find comfort there,..."
     That certainly is true in my experience. Hearing stories of Joanne, my late sister Lucille, my late brother Richard, my deceased  parents...is always gratifying. It runs counter to the caution people often exercise "I won't bring up the deceased because I don't want the bereaved to feel bad.." The reality is we feel bad already and the grief is exacerbated by the silence avoiding mention of the deceased.  It makes my day when someone says to me "I remember when Joanne..."
    Grief, abounds, both large and small so let us listen to one another that hope may be found.

Takk for alt,

Al