I began attending Diane Zinna’s Grief Writing Sundays in the early stages of writing my memoir, An Obesity of Grief, and her portals, as well as the writing shared by others, helped me recognize grief’s impact in other areas of my life beyond my husband’s death.
The piece I contributed to Diane’s new book, Letting Grief Speak: Writing Portals for Life After Loss, is in response to the portal “Noticing Yourself as a Child.” My father had recently died, and two family members were angry that I wouldn’t attend his funeral. It was 2020, and I lived with someone who, if he’d gotten covid, would most likely have been gravely ill. “Dad” is the letter I wrote to my child self to help me understand my anger and confusion, and to remind myself that my father loved me unconditionally.
She also referenced the piece I wrote for my newsletter called “Grieving the Living” for the portal of the same name in which I went deeper into how I responded to their estrangement.
Letting Grief Speak offers ninety writing portals through which you can explore your own grief. As Diane writes in her introduction, “…grief writing, if done with intention regularly, can open us back up to the world, help us find language for what we have experienced, and eventually be able to share more when we are ready.”
I’m grateful to be a part of the grief writing community Diane has created, and still facilitates twice a month if you’re interested in giving it a try. You don’t have to be on camera or share anything. Just show up with curiosity about how your grief impacts you.
Lynn Haraldson, Author and Writing Mentor 