by Eloise Cole, "Compassionate Friends " Newsletter 8/03

If you were to ask me to measure the love I have for any member of my family, I would be hard pressed for an answer. Surely my love is higher than the mountain tops and deeper than all the oceans and broader than all the deserts of the world. So too is my love for my loved one who has died.

How can I be asked to pack away mementoes and memories and not speak his name? He is and always will be a part of me.

No one can crate the depths of the ocean or the breadth of the deserts nor can my love be boxed and carried away.

Dear friends, please do not set limits on my grief. Neither my love nor the depths of my sorrow can be measured. I am unable to heal on a time-table set by another. Weeks and months have no meaning when set against the measure of my love. Walk with me please, this difficult road of recovery. I promise you that I indeed will heal, when I have grieved enough for me.