I was not raised with religion, and I had no faith before my mother died. On the other hand, when she died, I did not immediately feel she was "gone." I don't believe she is in something like heaven, but I also feel that we don't understand much about the nature of the universe. So I hold on to that uncertainty, at times.

Be patient with yourself. Don't make the loss harder by thinking you should be a certain way, or have bounced back, etc.

Sometimes you don't even know what you want until you find out you can't have it.

For sure, the funeral industry seems intensely cynical to me and I don't think it is HELPING people mourn.

Like my mother before me, I have always been a good speller.

I live to collect information, and I am also a perfectionist.

Loss doesn't feel redeemable. But for me one consoling aspect is the recognition that, in this at least, none of us is different from anyone else: We all lose loved ones; we all face our own death.