 Lately, I’ve been feeling homesick. Homesick for my coastline state. Homesick for my people. For the feeling of connection to something greater, and the feeling of connection to my Self. I always saw leaving California as a running towards instead of a running away, but it was not without some form of abandonment. I did, in fact, flee. I fled rather quickly.
I also stopped writing. I stopped talking to George in the same way. The change of environment spawned a new kind of mission: explore, expand, learn, go forth. But to grow, you must also nourish your roots. That which feeds you on a soul level cannot be pushed aside. For the past 12 months I’ve been doing a lot, making big changes, learning new things, striving to become. I have rarely stopped to reflect, to sit in quiet stillness and ask myself: is this who I want to be?  One year ago this January 1, from the mountains of Colorado, I made the decision to move to Denver. What began as our annual family Christmas vacation resulted in a major life transformation -- easily one of the most dramatic decisions I’ve ever made -- landing me, my 2-year old daughter, and a trailer full of boxes in the place we now call home. I couldn’t have known then, that Nova would get a spot at our neighborhood’s full-time preschool in the fall. I couldn’t have known that this would afford me the opportunity to resume school and finish my degree in Chinese medicine and acupuncture. I couldn’t have known that I would fall in love with a man and experience the depth of connection* that had vanished from my life years ago. I knew only that there was a home waiting for us in Denver, and that despite the 18 years of roots laid in the Bay Area, it was time for me to move forward, plant new roots, begin again.  Three years ago, I dreamed of this day. I somehow knew, even in those first few days, that things would be okay. But I didn’t want to live through the beginning. It felt like purgatory.
I was desperate to get to the other side. To have permission to start over. To fall in love. To be happy. To laugh unapologetically. To bury the widow. But grief is not a mountain. There is no summit, and there is no other side. Grief cannot be conquered, or left behind. Nor can the people that you loved. There is no starting over, because you are forever changed. You cannot go back to the person you were. And the person you become through grief is an ever-evolving wonder. It’s challenging for us to accept that there are races we cannot finish. Our minds want to untangle the past from the present, the sadness from the hope, the gratitude from the regret. We want to move past that which did not fulfill our dreams and expectations, or find resolution in death as the inevitable ending that we must embrace. Moving on is the mantra. But as the years change, and we along with them, so too does our relationship to the grief, and to our loved one cemented in time. Moving on deems impossible, for we take all of it with us. Every day, every year, a new experience of the past; a new understanding of the present. Three years ago, I dreamed of this day. And if you’d told me there was no other side, I’d have been crushed. But maybe you could have told me this, too: You are on the other side. Because the minute George crossed over, so did I. There the journey began, and so it continues, evolving and informing my life with infinite teachings. The last three years have not been easy, but they have been important. Like the butterfly’s struggle to emerge from the cocoon (without the struggle, it cannot survive) -- grief sits at the cornerstone of my human experience, challenging me to become a better version of who I thought I wanted to be. With love and peace in my heart, I step into this new year. A new season of evolution and wonder, with my beautiful and precious grief.  A few weeks ago, I thought I had finished the first draft of my memoir, and I was elated.
For about five minutes. That elation quickly turned to pride, turned to fear, turned to doubt, turned to shame. As I began to review the draft, starting from the beginning, the negative personal commentary began its long and relentless rant. I wrote this in my journal on October 29, 2015. Today, reading this while compiling the narrative for my memoir (which is getting there guys, I'm really close!), I want to share it. Because we, as a society, are so afraid to look at, think about, acknowledge, and come to terms with death. Yet there is nothing more certain than the inescapable truth that everything that lives, will die. And often we have little say in how or when this happens.
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