A lovely reflection from Mary on yesterday's speech and event.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHhvOM8gkdR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
"It is difficult, if not impossible, to find meaning in losing someone you love. But what makes sense, and something that can not be taken from us, is all we had with that person.
With those words, I began my speech at the 20th Anniversary of Children, Youth and Grief yesterday. Of course, for me it was one of the harder talks to hold. But to my own surprise, I was more moved than I would have thought. And so it is with grief, it can strike at any time. Yesterday was not 'anytime', it was the mark of an organization that works to help children and young people through their grief and with the belief that life can become whole again, but…. in a new way.
What touched me on the podium yesterday is a little hard to explain. It was not so much about my own loss, but more about the fact that many of us in the room had something special in common. We were common about having lost, and I could feel the common understanding that loss provides. It does not require words, it is just there…
And the common understanding uses Children, Young People and Grief as a central element in the mourning work. The volunteers at Sorglinjen, for example, find meaning in the meaningless when they use their animal-bought experiences to give other young people a hope.
And hope is the focal point. The hope that you can learn to live with the grief as part of life and take the one you have lost with you. I've learned that"