grief is life changing…

I never would have thought what raw, searing grief and sorrow could bring out the most tender, generous, compassionate, and loving sides of total strangers. It was exquisite. I will carry this with me for the rest of my life. I saw in the darkest corners of our grief and pain, something very beautiful. Suffering compels us to reach. When you find a channel for your rage and deepest suffering, and there’s another hand there reaching back, what lies in the wake of it all, is finally – blessed peace. Calm. Nothing has changed about your loss… it’s still there. But your relationship with it  had been greatly altered. You have been and held tenderly.  You have been drained. And then you can open yourself  up again. You can start to rebuild in that annihilated place.

Billie, personal note to Francis Weller,

used with permission, in book “The Wild Edge of Sorrow”