Essay About Grieving

“If you have ever lost a loved one, then you know exactly how it feels. And if you have not, then you cannot possibly imagine it.” - Lemony Snicket, “The Bad Beginning”. Grieving is a five step process, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. It is not always experienced in that order and each and every one experiences in a different way. After the loss of a loved one you grieve and the grieving period varies for every person, it affects everyone differently and it changes everyone’s life in a different way.

Grieving can last longer for someone in your family than yourself. When I turned six years old on February 20th 2004 my grandmother, my dad’s mother, was very sick. She then passed away on March 18th from ovarian cancer. I

After my grandmother passed I felt lost. She was so young when she left us and I felt it was unfair. Talking about cancer can be a touchy subject for me. My aunt had breast cancer and she beat it. Thank god she did because losing two close members of my family to cancer might have made me a different person than I am today. Family is the most important thing to me. It is the number one thing I value the most. Some people who have no support or no family to lean on can have depression after they lose a loved one. That was not the case for me. I have an amazing family, who have always been there for me and to support me. I found it difficult to accept that she was not with us anymore and that everything would be different. Even now, twelve years later, I sometimes have to take a step back and remind myself that she is gone. I have so many things I wish I could tell her and show her. I ask myself sometimes if she would be proud of me today, if she would approve of who I am dating. Then I know that she would be proud and that she would approve. I know that she would approve of who I am dating because she was the type of women who would never judge anyone. She had the biggest heart and my boyfriend has a big heart as well, he would have loved her as much as I did, as much as I still do. She was my closest friend at the time. Losing my grandmother has affected me in a surprisingly positive way. I

When I lost my grandmother, and I finally let it sink in that she was gone, my world turned. It was then that I realised that everything we did as a family, all of the activities and the family reunions, she would no longer be part of. Everything would be different. My first Christmas without her was difficult and emotional. It was not the same. My grandfather was alone and Christmas lunch was not made by grandma. It was hard to handle. In the years that followed things changed. Traditions were no longer the same, met grandfather met another woman. I did not feel like he replaced my grandmother, but it was a little hard to wrap my head around. I saw that she made my grandfather so much happier and he was not alone. Things did change but they changed in a positive way. My grandfather’s new girlfriend was very good to him and to my family. She loves us and we love her to. She is part of our family now. No one could ever replace my grandmother. But if she makes my grandfather happy that is all that matters. She is now part of family reunions and Christmases and all of the important holidays. We have created new traditions with her and we would not change anything about it. I am certain that my grandmother is happy to see us all happy. She is watching us grow and learn as she guards