Grief: The uninvited guest

September 05, 2024

We all know the old saying about their only being two sure things in life: death and taxes. In fact, there is a third: grief.

If you’ve been following the podcast, you know that we’ve been doing a series on grief. We interviewed the remarkable Robin Pacific about her experiences with grief, which she writes about so poignantly in her book Skater Girl. CroneCast co-host Trudy Callaghan also shared with us her intimate and raw account of her grief journey that began when she lost her husband in 2018.

Though there is much to rejoice about at this stage of life, there are also many things to grieve as we age: the loss of loved ones, health, our looks, physical abilities, and more. As part of our grief series, we’re planning to do a lot of rummaging through the nuances of grief.

Why are we spending time on such a seemingly cheerless subject? Like it or not, at this stage in our lives, grief becomes less theoretical, less conceptual, less impersonal. It starts to take up more room on the pages of our stories.

The fact is that grief is always waiting in the wings. Party crashing is basically its job. It shows up by surprise and sometimes exactly when we expect it. But, in either case, it’s never welcome. Still, grief always has its best clothes on, is always ready to eat those little cucumber sandwiches, and is completely comfortable with being the uninvited guest. Here’s the catch though…we have to let grief in if we’re to have any hope of getting it to leave.