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Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letti...

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“I felt like I was in the middle of a slow-motion shipwreck. The ship was sinking, and no one could change that. I could barely tread water in the swirling, debris-ridden sea of emotions--fighting to keep my nose above the waves, struggling for each breath.”

Loss Grief Emotion

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“We allowed each other the gift of separate approaches to the same crisis.”

Loss Grief Marriage Relationship Mourning

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“Stress is a fickle glue. Our concern over Zach should have cemented us to each other. Instead, we drew our agony around ourselves like a force field. Inadequate protection at best. Distance-maker at worst. It was as if letting ourselves be vulnerable with each other would have made us brittle. We couldn't afford to crumble.”

Fear Loss Grief Marriage Stress Illness

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“Until that moment, I had assumed my job--my role in the crisis--was to absorb the grief, anger, and pain building up and spilling out around Tammy and our kids. Absorb their grief so they wouldn't feel the full brunt. My job. But that night, I expressed my sorrow rather than trying to deflect or divert the hard hit Tammy had also taken. Judging from her response, it appeared more meaningful to her than the strength I'd been trying to portray.”

Men Loss Grief Mourning

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“How does a person manage a loss that isn't?”

Loss Grief Ambiguous Loss

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“In a time of grief, it's the symbols that cut the deepest--the single red shoe in a pile of dusty gray war rubble, the grease-stained recipe card in Grandma's handwriting, the flag-draped casket saluted at the airport, the first wildflower that pushes its way through the ashes of last year's forest fire, the guitar whose voice would never be heard.”

Loss Grief Mourning

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“That's the Zach I wanted back. The son I knew and loved. But it seemed almost greedy to long for that. He was alive. Shouldn't I be grateful? How dare I say it wasn't enough?”

Loss Grief Guilt

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“It became all the more obvious that people--no matter their age or what brought them to that place--grieve in different ways and on different timetables.”

Loss Grief Mourning

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“We functioned. We remained committed to each other. But how was it that we felt so disconnected when permanently connected by a shared tragedy?”

Loss Grief Marriage Mourning

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“When a loss is ambiguous, no public ceremony acknowledges the loss and its fallout, or honors the memory of the loved one. It was true for us. People still were unsure how to respond to the endlessness of our unique form of loss. Should they grieve with us or pretend life was fine now that Zach had lived through it all? Would we resent it if they didn't mention the injury, or if they did?”

Loss Grief Mourning Ambiguous Loss

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

“Ambiguous disappointment often accompanies ambiguous loss. For so long we disappointed each other--drawing close when the other needed space, keeping our distance when the other needed closeness, misreading each other's cues about whether an incident was comedic or catastrophic in the other's opinion, misjudging which of our children needed us most at any given moment.”

Relationships Loss Grief Marriage Mourning

Book:Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is

Source: Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--and Learning to Live Well with What Is