The Alchemy of Grief
I wept as Terry Tempest Williams described watching the door open to reveal her brother’s body after being cremated for six hours. She spoke of his ribs, broken open like wings, the bones they gathered after another 3 hours on trays and then watched as they were ground to dust. The weight of his bones was 8 pounds and 2 ounces, the weight he was at birth. “Learn from owls.” She said in her clear, steady voice. “They have taught me a thing or two about how to navigate the dark.” 2019 has been a year full of grief. Friends have passed, leaving young children motherless, family allies have been given terminal diagnoses, parents of friends have crossed the rainbow bridge, my family has broken my heart. Many days I have wondered, “How is it possible to rise day after day when grief is like a mantle pressing me into the earth?” Sometimes, it is like a hand pressing against my breastbone, steady and deep, compressing my chest into itself. Caroline Casey, a mys...