I'm in MN for my mother's funeral

[TygrBright]

98. Thank you for the kind words, JudyM. I'm discovering...

...that a grieving process is not something you 'get over' or turn on and off. It's a part of me and will stay forever. More than 50 years ago my father died, and that's certainly still with me. Perhaps what time does is provide perspective.

Initially it's overwhelming, the depth and detail of the pain, like an electron microscope viewing a biopsy sample. Time changes it to an optical microscope, and everything that was there is still there, but I see it differently. Less detail but more of an analog reality. Ultimately, I suppose, it becomes like something viewed through a telescope against a larger background of everything else around it.

It happens at its own pace, and it's not entirely one-directional, it moves back into close contrast and then recedes a bit. Ultimately the pain serves a purpose. But it's still pain.

appreciatively,
Bright