Sorry Barbara. You sound like a good person. It’s nice to hold and cherish lovely memories like these about our loved ones when they pass on.

Memories are all that we have left once they are gone. And its healing and cathartic when we take the time to build decent memories, like what you had with Beth.

I hope Matt and his dad weather this period and come out strong and encouraged about life.

You said it right, grief is a universal experience and we all deal with it differently. Two years ago this coming July, I lost my mom. It was extremely difficult -- dealt with denial to ultimately acceptance.

I wrote about it after I got myself past the denial. You could check it out.

https://medium.com/illumination/6-hard-truths-ive-learned-because-my-mom-died-bbfa3447bb26