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This past week I attended a funeral…as did three of my friends. Four separate funerals; four persons eulogized.
Also, an eighty-something friend told me all her close friends have died.
My mother, who died three months short of age 101, said occasionally during her final years, “I feel as if I’m the only leaf left on the tree.”
In Chapter III of life grief is a constant companion.
What is grief teaching you?
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A beautiful metaphor…. The only leaf left on the tree…. Maybe we feel that way when the world spins off in a direction we never imagined… we become disoriented and have to find our footing in a new sphere
Indeed!
I feel like the only leaf left on the tree as I am the only one left in my family….parents and siblings all deceased. My feelings involve sadness and loneliness as often there are things I wish I could share with them. However, I have gradually learned to realize that grief also brings intense thankfulness for all that I shared with those who are gone…..like remembering and honoring the times when that tree was a lush green, full of leaves.
Becky, Thank you so much. Yours is a powerful naming of the only-leaf-left experience.
Your 101-year-old mother’s comment about being the only leaf left on the tree resonates in its humor and honesty with this 90-year-old who is beginning to realize that the leaves of fall are just around the corner. It is a beautiful image.
Having just lost my life-time mate of some 68+ years, grief is a reality I greet each day. Some years ago, I attended a funeral (memorial service; celebration of life) conducted by a pastor friend for a parishioner we both knew quite well. In his eulogy he commented, “Grief will never go away entirely. In fact, it will sometimes give you a whack that is totally unexpected. At times it will create darkness. At other times it will produce joyful memories. Seek those means and people who can help you transform the darkness into light. Faith in God’s love can also help.”
Those words have steadily reminded me grief can be an intense burden. They also remind me there is good grief just as there is “good trouble.” Becky has described this so very well in her words.
H, Yes. You are helping me learn from grief. Thank you.
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