Grief is not new to me, but I am beginning to understand how it manifests in my body and what it looks like on me. I know what sadness looks like on other people, and I’ve heard people talk about being sad, but it’s been about 14 years since I legit felt the feeling of sadness. Scratch that...since I’ve felt something.
I know what it’s like to love radically, and I know the feeling of great loss. In between that, it’s like I’ve been numb while waiting to feel one or the other again. I’ve had great anxiety about people close to me passing since my father passed in 2001, and my brothers were killed in 2006. It’s funny, because the day before my mom died, I told my friend, “2020 can do whatever the fuck it wants, just please don’t take my mom.” And then BOOM...the next day. That was the next BIG moment I was anxiously waiting for.
Divine timing is everything. My mom passed while my sister and I were visiting her for a couple of days. We got there the night before, she had a heart attack that next evening. I couldn’t have imagined receiving that phone call, so I’m grateful that I was there in those moments. Since then I’ve been in GET SHIT DONE mode, because you realize life goes tf on.