Of Grief and Pensive Skies

People in the real world always say, when something terrible happens, that the sadness and loss and aching pain of the heart will “lessen as time passes,” but it isn’t true. Sorrow and loss are constant, but if we all had to go through our whole lives carrying them the whole time, we wouldn’t be able to stand it. The sadness would paralyze us. So, in the end, we just pack it into bags and find somewhere to leave it.”

—Frederic Backman

A gloomy grey sky has a beauty of its own too! How would our days be if all we had was sunshine and happy days all the time? Would we treasure the moments of joy as much then?

Today, I’m sharing a stunning grey sky shot at Arniston, South Africa, where we spent one night in the middle of a torrential downpour that lasted almost all night. The weather was chilly and strong gale force winds kept us up until very late, as we waited for the weather to settle down before we could get some quality shut-eye.

It reminded me of how we all have days when we are overwhelmed with loss and grief. Right now, a close friend is struggling to come to terms with the loss of her husband while another is grieving for a parent who succumbed to Covid, just as he seemed to recover.

Acceptance of things that we cannot change is important. Our void inside doesn’t heal on its’ own or ever fill up. We’ve got to work on it. Day after day. Week after week. We must fulfil our responsibilities and do what has to be done. When dad passed away, I hoped that one day my pain will lessen. It hasn’t, not so far. I’m not sure it ever will. But, bearing the pain has definitely become easy with time.

The gaping hole remains, though!

*******

Linking this to #SkywatchFriday, where people post beautiful sky shots from different parts of the world.) You may catch my earlier #SkywatchFriday posts here.