coordinated bereavement
2020-08-31
I got a call from the hospice Bereavement Coordinator the other day.
To think, my bereavement needs coordinating!
I certainly wouldn't want to grieve willy-nilly, oh no!
Best to nip this in the bud.
The gist of the advice given - and preserved for future reference in the handy booklet, Coordinated Bereavement, a guide for the modern mourner:
- You may feel or behave in any (or many) of myriad ways - some happy, some sad, some painful, some weird, and some just blandly normal (all told, the list can pretty much be summed up as "life")
- Should you find yourself feeling or behaving in any of these ways, it is because you are grieving (although, as we've described the list, you might simply say "you are living")
- Do not be alarmed
- If you are alarmed, that is okay too, because you are grieving (aka alive)
- There are people standing by to help you cope with your grief (aliveness)
- Grieving (nee living) is complicated and requires coordination - it is beyond the abilities of the do-it-yourselfer, you should not attempt to grieve (live) alone
Funny that death should provoke an amplification of life - elevating its experience to grief.