Tied to Grieving

Many people close to me are dealing with grief lately.

As I look over the past few months, many of my close family and friends have lost loved ones close to them.

And we all deal with grief in very different ways.

My sister-in-law lost her mother and her brother recently. Both losses have been very hard on their family, and on my brother as well.

My first cousin died last week, out of the blue.  He had hip surgery on Monday, came home Tuesday, and died in bed Tuesday night.  We were all shocked, and grieve his loss.  As we gather this summer for a cousin's reunion, he will be greatly missed.

A man her in the valley recently died, taking his own life.  His brother and sister-in-law were good friends of ours, as well as much of his extended family.  It was hard to hear of his loss.

My sister recently had a former student die in a car accident, and she watched as a community grieved his loss.

When people leave our lives, we do grieve.  We grieve their passing.  We grieve that our relationship with that person has ended.  We grieve that we are unable to spend more time with that person.  We grieve the things we didn't say to that person or do with that person.

And it reminds us that relationships with those we love are very special, and we shouldn't let petty arguments and grudges come in the way of having a relationship with our family and friends.

Life is too short not to love.