March 13 2017

One topic of conversation at our grief education and support group meetings is how to begin to let go. During one meeting, I invite participants to write a letter to their lost loved one. At a future meeting, participants read their letters aloud, or allow others to read the letters for them if it is too difficult.

I am continually amazed by this experience. Time after time I hear expressions of deep love and letting go, both requiring tremendous courage. I think of parents who experienced pregnancy and early infant loss and who sign the letter Mom and Dad – a name they claim for the first time. In this name, they are loving and letting go all at once. I think of widows and widowers beginning to accept what is. Group participants tell me this activity is one of the most difficult we undertake, and also one of the most healing.