What I Wish I Could Tell You About Grief

Ana, age 14 — photo by author

What you don’t know about grief is that it’s a living thing. Or maybe you do know this. Maybe you’re shaking your head at my naiveté. Grief has an appetite. It’s insatiable. If I’m not careful, it might replace the person I used to be.

If I wake up one day and there is nothing left of me but the sorrow that sits like a heavy stone in my chest, if the grief consumes — because I let it consume —…