DECEMBER 23
...memory nourishes the heart, and grief abates.
—MARCEL PROUSTAt this season of the year—so filled with memories and, for
most people, family occasions—sometimes our grief seems
all but unbearable. And grief is often especially sharp around
holiday occasions.
But after a while we begin to savor the recall of those
gathered times when we were all together, when the tenor
of the days was festive and mutually cherishing. If our loved
one had a particular role in the rituals of this season, we
who take over that role may feel a special bond with the one
who is gone.
So memory “nourishes the heart,” eases the sharp edges
of grief, and, whether or not we speak of it to one another,
spreads its arms to comfort and to gather us as one family
in the great human stream of life.
In my memory I can live with my loved one again, and be glad.