We don’t just move on, and stop grieving our loved ones. We grieve, because we love, and love is lasting. What happens is that we learn how to move forward, heartache and all. We learn how to live with the grief. In some cases, we learn to love again.

Grief is different for everyone. It’s not a cookie cutter experience. I don’t judge people who get married in a year or less, I may not understand it, but I never judge. I don’t judge those who choose never to remarry. There should be less judgement all around with how people grieve. Who are you to demand a person grieve in the way that you see fit?

Grief is a thief. One minute we’re on the ground dry heaving as we receive the devastating news, and the next, it’s years later. A large chunk of time is just gone.

Like my mother said, ‘Grief is the price we pay for love.’ Love is worth every tear, every second spent in agony missing your beloved. Trust me. I’m remarried, to a man I love wholeheartedly. I know the cost, and though I worry about being widowed again, I have not a single regret in loving, and spending my life with this wonderful man.