On Grief

“When I was in labor with my son, my birth coach kept encouraging me to notice the space between contractions—she said I needed to notice the space so that I could use it as reprieve, to gear up for the next contraction, to stay strong.

I remember thinking, there is a life lesson here, but this isn’t the moment for it.”

(From Pathemata by Maggie

The mere act of searching is proof that I refuse to get lost in my loss.

-Mahmoud Darwish, from “Journal of Ordinary Grief”