CW: Death
Yesterday was National Grief Awareness Day. It was founded in 2014 by grief advocate Angie Cartwright, who endured profound personal losses including her mother, sister, and husband. She chose this date to invite open conversation about grief, not silence or the pressure to “move on.”
I have lost several family members over the years, and each time has been a deeply sorrowful moment. Knowing that I will never see them again lingers like a shadow that never disappears.
Watching both of my grandmothers endure dementia as their memories have slipped away has been especially heartbreaking. I have always wished I could trade places with them. Seeing someone you love lose pieces of themselves brings a sorrow that is difficult to put into words.
Special occasions are not the same. I miss getting birthday cards and Christmas gifts from them. Grief is constantly in the background during these occasions. However, grief also creeps in during everyday moments. I miss their phone calls, and visits.
However, dementia has shown me that people don’t need to remember things to have a connection with you. I will cherish the time I’ve spent with my grandmothers for the rest of my life. There have been times when they didn’t remember things, but I’ve learned to be patient.
Grief does not follow a timeline or a predictable path. It may include sadness, anger, guilt, numbness, or moments of fragile relief, all shifting in a cadence only grief understands. While the classic model of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance has been widely recognized, it fails to capture the deeply personal and often non‑linear nature of grief. It can resurface in unpredictable ways long after the loss and often changes shape over time.
Grief comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm and manageable. Other times the waves are overwhelming and knock you down.
All we can do is learn to swim through them. Some describe grief’s rhythm as predictable, but then a rogue wave crashes over you from the side with no warning. Grief is often layered, with waves within waves, ups and downs within ups and downs. Eventually the weather clears, the ocean calms, and though grief might always exist in the undercurrent, calmer days return.
Source:
Torres, Jennifer M. “Our Lives Can Be Shattered in an Instant:” National Grief Awareness Day Shines Light on Grief.” Florida Today, Gannett, 29 Aug. 2025, http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2025/08/29/national-grief-awareness-day-death-loss-brevard-florida-family/85863151007/.