1. While the experience of grief is profoundly personal, the bravery of those who haveSHARED their own experiences has helped pull me through.
2. I have gained a more profound understanding of what it is to be a mother, both through the depth of the agony I feel when my children scream and cry and from the connection my mother has to my pain.
3. I have learned that I never really knew what to say to others in need. I think I got this all wrong before; I tried to assure people that it would be okay.
4. I have learned some practical stuff that matters. I still hate every car that did not move to the side (for the ambulance), every person who cared more about arriving at their destination a few minutes earlier than making room for us to pass.
5. I have heard from too many women who lost a spouse and then had multiple rugs pulled out from under them. It seems so wrong to me that we abandon these women and their families when they are in greatest need.
6. I have learned to ask for help—and I have learned how much help I need. Those closest to me took over. They planned. They arranged. They told me where to sit and reminded me to eat.
7. I have learned that resilience can be learned. Personalization—realizing it is not my fault. Permanence—remembering that I won’t feel like this forever. Pervasiveness—the ability to compartmentalize is healthy.
8. One of my favorite cartoons of all time has an elephant in a room answering the phone, saying, “It’s the elephant.” Once I addressed the elephant, we were able to kick him out of the room.
9. My next birthday will beDEPRESSING as hell, but I am determined to celebrate it in my heart more than I have ever celebrated a birthday before.
This articles explains how Sheryl Sandberg deals and copes with the death of her husband, Dan Goldberg. A few days after the death of her husband, Sheryl posts a facebook post on how she can teach others about death and grieving. She explains her ways of coping and undergoing this disastrous event. Sheryl teaches others not to give up on life after you lose a loved one because their is still more in life than grieving. She has explained how being able to talk to others can help her cope with this and be able to get passed some emotions. Another thing she has shared is being able to know a feeling like this wont last forever, that it will eventually go away. These things Sheryl Sandberg has shared connects to The Lovely Bones because in the end Susie's family begins to learn how to stop grieving, they begin to understand and accept Susie's death. They learn that it is not healthy to keep feeling this pain and it is important to move on. The family begins to work together and express their feelings to each other instead of keeping it to themselves, just like Sheryl shared in her post. I chose this article because I believe the situation in The Lovely Bones reflects and relates to Sheryl's post on grieving and death because of how both situations were handled. Eventually Sheryl and Susie's family begins to understand the concept of a loved one being gone forever. Therefore, I believe Sheryl post about death and grief can help many people, it shows that giving up and losing hope is not the answer. Just like in The Lovely Bones Susie's family did not let her death destroy them forever.
