Grief is a solitary road. Even if we are fortunate enough to have people alongside us during the journey, (as I have been), no one can really travel all the way with us. Our pain and our path are as individual as the relationship we share with the person we've lost. When my father died suddenly back in September of 2013, I began doing what I always do: I started writing. I did it to somehow make sense of my own grief, and to keep moving through the place I now call The Grief Valley. These seven short chapters, (the first one written just three days after his passing) are some of the most personal things I've ever shared. They're also some of the writings I'm most proud of. I've collected them here, in the hopes that they will be an encouragement and source of comfort for those experiencing loss of someone they love dearly, though I know each path will be a completely different one. This work represents a real-time processing of my first year without my Dad. It's not a "how-to" book by any means, but maybe in my story, you'll find something that you yourself can own; something to make your personal road through the Grief Valley a little more bearable. Be encouraged. Keep walking.
