Monday, June 29, 2009

If you are someone close to a grieving mother...
*
First of all, know that she has not "gone crazy", and despite what you think, she does not hate you..no matter how she acts.If that sounds like a strange statement, you'd be surprised at how many people are at a complete loss when it comes to understanding a grieving moms behavior.
*
After a Mom loses her child, she goes through a myriad of emotions that might range from laughter to out and out rage. This can be terribly confusing for others. You may see her relatively happy one day, and unable to get out of bed the next. The temptation is there to just want her "back to normal", and without realizing it, you may be putting pressure on her to"snap out of it".
*
What you must understand is that she has suffered a loss that can be compared to nothing else in the world. You could lose all of your money, your home, everything you own... you could lose a parent, a sibling, a friend.....but the loss of a child (for a mother)goes deeper than any wound imaginable.
*
This child was literally a part of her. She felt their first movements of life, felt him or her grow within her, and endured a labor of love to bring them into the world. The first time she saw their little face, she thought her heart would break, never having seen anything so beautiful. She watched them grow, she dreamed dreams for them, and in the reflection of her child's eyes-- she saw the faces of her grandchildren.
*
Believe me when I say that if she'd been given a choice, she would have offered up her life for theirs in an instant. If she could have died for them, SHE WOULD HAVE... so deep is that love.
*
I tell you truly, losing a beloved child is a loss like no other. Society doesn't even have a word for it. Why? Because it's so indescribable. If your parents die you become an orphan, husband dies..a widow, wife dies.. a widower, but if a child dies, we don't even posess the language to describe that.
*
Resist putting pressure on her to "be like she used to be". She will perceive this as a lack of concern for her emotional state. As much as you would like to have the "old her" back, she simply cannot be "normal" right now. For her, everything she thought she was sure of has been shaken to it's foundation.

No comments: