Love Letter to Grief

Book excerpt: On May 6, 2017, my husband, Derell Daniel, was killed in a car wreck. Our love story that began with love letters over twenty-five years ago as junior high school students took a tragic turn when my husband's life ended and grief stepped in. On my journey with grief, I have learned that the only way to get through grief is to be honest with your pain and just allow yourself to grieve. These letters represent a transparent look into the heartbreaking events that lead to, and follow, the death of my husband. Sometimes, grief is not about getting better: it's simply about getting through. Getting through the next second, the next minute, the next hour, the next day. Give yourself permission to take it one second at a time, because at times that's all you can do. The single most vital thing one can learn after the loss of a loved one is to accept the role grief will take in your life. This is my love letter to Grief, as I learn to accept that it may always walk beside me. This is my love letter to Grief, as I learn to navigate through life with the waves crashing all around me. This is also my love letter to you, so that you know that you are not alone, we walk together, yet separately, in our grief journey. If I can make this journey for one widow, one mother, one daughter, one person just a little easier to bear, I feel my husband's death will not be in vain.