The truth is, I need to experience my mother's presence in the world around me and not just in my head.
Meghan O'RourkeThis is part of the complexity of grief: A piece of you recognizes it is an extreme state, an altered state, yet a large part of you is entirely subject to its demands.
Meghan O'RourkeAnd after my mother's death I became more open to and empathetic about other people's struggles and losses.
Meghan O'RourkeWhile I did a lot of research, I ended up feeling that the best way to write about grief was to describe it from the inside out - the show the strange intensities that come along with it, the peculiar thoughts, the longing for that past - all the strange moments of thinking you glimpse the dead person on the street, or in your dreams.
Meghan O'Rourke