A mother is a story with no beginning. That is what defines her.

And after my mother's death I became more open to and empathetic about other people's struggles and losses.

'Hamlet' is a play about a man whose grief is deemed unseemly.

What had happened still seemed implausible. A person was present your entire life, and then one day she disappeared and never came back. It resisted belief.

A mother is beyond any notion of a beginning. That's what makes her a mother.

All love stories are tales of beginnings. When we talk about falling in love, we go to the beginning, to pinpoint the moment of freefall.

Many grievers experience intense yearning or longing after a death - more than they experience, say, denial.