-Isms: Views on life in rural America

Grief is a strange thing. One minute you’re going about your life, setting type on page six of this week’s paper, and the next, you crumble into a heap, head resting on your desk on a Monday afternoon, tears streaming because it’s your Mom’s 84th birthday and she departed from this world nearly seven years ago.

Each of us experiences our own journey when we lose someone. Grief does not differentiate between the ways we lose someone - death, a breakup, a misunderstanding with your closest friend. Grief simmers beneath the surface and, when triggered, brings a flood of memories and emotions.

We...