The Two Sides of Death

My vacation was wonderful. Reentering has been less so. I received the sad and unexpected news that a colleague had died. She was just a few years older than me. Although we were not close, I respected her a great deal. And, she was one of those people you could turn to for gut checks and hard truths.

My work requires me to talk and think about death a lot. I call this "the business side of death," and I like to think I'm reasonably good at it. But "the emotional side of death," the grief part, is a whole different experience. I'm no better at that than anyone else.

I keep thinking, "there is no good card for this." It's not an original thought about grief. Emily McDowell gets credit for it. The book Dr. Kelsey Crowe and she wrote with the same title is terrific. The same is true of "Modern Loss" by Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner.

Those books don't, won't, can't make up for the loss of a friend, loved one, or colleague. But they do, will, can help you become better equipped for the emotional side of death.