My sweet grandparents celebrating their 60th anniversary (Dr. James A. and Judith Maddy)

Grief

It hits everyone differently

Natalie Jeanne Maddy
3 min readMar 14, 2023

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3/13/23

You never know how you’ll actually feel when the time comes,
when your 85 year old grandpa who has lived more than one life, dies,
right after you celebrated his birthday… his life… his family… him.

Life goes on until it doesn’t.
But that doesn’t mean you stop your life to grieve.
Because society doesn’t let you.

You have to keep studying because you’re a student,
even if you take off time temporarily
because your professors are human
and have compassion
and are suffering alongside you when you share the sorrowing news.

You have to keep going to work,
even if they give you bereavement time
because they need you to keep working for them,
because life goes on,
for you
and obviously for them too.
It’s a business, after all.

You have to smile when someone at the grocery store compliments you,
even if it’s the same compliment your grandpa used to give you,
because it would be utterly weird to start…

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Natalie Jeanne Maddy
Natalie Jeanne Maddy

Written by Natalie Jeanne Maddy

I try to rouse others to find their truths by writing about my own!💋Yoga, meditation, and aromatherapy teacher. Author of 5 books — thriller, healing, poetry.

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