Where does grieving fit in? It is on on-going process of course, but at some point it becomes more explicit - I think it is before final acceptance, when we truly mourn, and then we are ready to move forward. We have internalised the loss and it is part of us, in a healthy way.
I didn't realise I was giong through stages for quite a while - it felt more like a series of steps, up and away from the emotional mess, BUT just before each time I moved up and away a notch, I went through a particularly hard and difficult time - and after that I felt on another level.
And just as the MLCers progress seems agonizingly slow, the process of healing and coming to terms with it all takes a very long time.
There were times when I longed for an efficient Eternal Sunshine of teh SPotless Mind service to simply come and wipe the memory banks.
Losing a part of who we were, and such a painful way, is hard to come to terms with.
