Addendum

Sorry, but this is an addendum to my last post.  I recently read this  Article about the deaths in Newtown a year ago and found it interesting.  I especially liked this quote "...We don't look at grief as something you heal from like it's an illness, like it's a cold for instance. We use that language a lot, you know 'have you recovered' or 'have you healed from your grief?'...What grief is is a form of love, but with the loved one gone, so it's really the heartbreak of separation from the loved one. So the work of grief is to find a new form for that love, to find a new expression for it, a new commitment, a way to honor the love." 

As members of the Church, with testimonies of Jesus Christ and his atonement and our Father's plan, I think we sometimes think  we don't think we need go through the grief process the same way because we know better.   But I remember very clearly that after Logan died, we knew where he was and that we would be with him again, but the anguish of being separated from him for the next 60 years was hard.  How would WE live without him?

My dad passed away in August of 2000.  When their wedding anniversary came around in December, I can remember that my mom said she was feeling sorry for herself that day and sad.  But being the resolute person that she is, she picked herself up and got busy baking lots of goodies, which she then delivered  to the people my dad had home taught for many years, who were generally not active or who didn't have a lot of friends.   She found a way to honor her love for my Dad.  

I have occasionally read a blog kept by the LDS mother of one of the children killed in Newtown.  It is  painful to read, but also uplifting as she has struggled to find ways to keep Emilie's memory alive and move forward with life.  I guess that's why I feel that we need to experience and express grief.  It's hard, but it's part of why we're here.  I'm comforted by the description of the Savior as a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief.