Story by Jacqueline Dooley
Editor's Note: I'm not linking and listing individual articles in P&D any longer, but in this case I'm making an exception. I find these kinds of articles more than just touching, they're lessons in life, lessons from those who've lived and experienced life at it's best, and it's worst. As we age we take voyages into the past in our minds, sometimes the voyage is joyous, and sometimes not so much as we tend to go through the woulda, coulda, shoulda's of our life. Are there regrets? If one honestly looks at their life, the answer must be yes. If the answer is no, then they're lost souls, and their passing will in no way diminish the world. I found this touching, and surely needs to be promoted, I hope you agree. RK
When my daughter Ana was 11, she was diagnosed with a rare cancer called inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT). Five years later, on March 22, 2017, Ana died from her disease.
In those first months after Ana died, grief manifested as an ache in my chest and an inability to do much more than sit in my yard and watch the birds at my feeders. I stopped working for about six months, outsourcing my freelance marketing projects to subcontractors while I moved through life in a daze.
As each year passes, my grief shifts and changes. It never fades. It’s just... different. For me, surviving grief requires adaptation. It’s taken me a long time, but I’m finally OK with not hanging on to every single memory, ritual and symbol that reminds me of Ana.
As I approach the seventh anniversary of losing Ana, I don’t need or want to keep retelling the story of her death. I want to remember her life and the unique things that made Ana, well... Ana. There’s one memory, in particular, that is still sharp and clear in my mind — Ana’s imaginary world. She called it Arkomo.
Ana loved tiny things. She collected them like treasure : Minuscule stuffed animals. Shells that fit into the palm of her hand. The world’s smallest plastic frog. .....To Read More...
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