I am grateful for the gift of tenderness that grief has brought into my life.
I am grateful for how grief has taught me to feel the mossy softness of the earth beneath my bare feet. I never knew until this painful tenderness entered my life that the earth was so soft as she held my footsteps.
I never knew that grief would make me feel so acutely, the loving coolness of the wind as she stroked my face, my neck and ran her fingers through my hair, ruffling it, making it dishevelled; releasing, discharging the heaviness, the weight of the sadness. Releasing the tightness in my shoulders, reminding me to breathe.
Aaaah….
Thank you to the ocean that roars and mirrors my inner turmoil and yet gently laps and licks at my toes reminding me that….that I am alive?
And oh, the sun, the welcoming warmth of the sun, that somehow reaches into the cracks formed within my heart and holds me, holds my heart, with such unconditional and loving tenderness.
Like a mother bathing her newborn.
Thank you grief, for the tears. They wash across my soul.
And bring softness to my hardness.
(Written 26/07/2024 the day after Nadia Maheter’s offering on Supporting Grief and Loss in Childbirth in our Study Spirals)
