19 - Shared Grief

By Kay Heitsch

Shared grief has a way of creating close and special bonds. Sometimes it may be easier to share your grief with people who are not your immediate family.

Todd and Domenic had a great friendship. After Todd's death, Domenic and I became close friends.

Our shared grief took us out to the site where Todd died late one night. We sat in our van and both cried, trying to wrap our heads around the fact that Todd was really gone. This experience seemed to be the beginning of our forever friendship.

Domenic would stop over at the house often. We would take Brandon to the park together. This was not only healing for me, but it was good for Brandon, too.

Over the years, I have been blessed that Dom has always kept in touch. We talk on the phone and text. We don't always bring up Todd, but we both feel comfortable talking about him.

Let's face it, not everyone feels comfortable talking about a person who has died. That's okay. We all grieve in our own way.

For me, I love remembering Todd and talking about him. But that's me. I'm blessed to have people like Domenic in my life who feel the same way.