My real dad died a few weeks ago.
It wasn't totally unexpected but it was sudden.
The words stop.
First numb.
then...confused.
then frenetic.
then overwhelmed,
and now...
I find myself sad.
Unbelievably sad.
Now, out of no where, I cry for him and all the loved ones who have died. So many all together.
The tears that suddenly flood my eyes are just... mine. I could say..ah! there is daddy! Or there is my step dad (was it just six months ago?) there is grandma, there is my dear kitty(gone before Christmas), there is my mother's former self.
I miss them all. I am going along just fine. Life is working, I am working. I am being present. I am enjoying my grandchild, and then...I cannot focus.
Grief is sneaky that way. It can hide underneath, like a bittersweet aftertaste in wine. No matter how much I know about this intellectually, no matter how many people I have accompanied as their loved ones have passed away, or how often I listen to the sorrows of others, I didn't know.
Now I finally get it.
This is unbelievably hard.
Insidious.
And I was funny before. (maybe not here, but in the real world, according to one of my students, I am "hilarious")
It is harder to be up for others. I need something else now.
I need to be here for me.
Now I am embracing sad.
Thanks dad. You have taught me more compassion.
