"Judith is here - Everywhere"

Grief is an active process of coming to terms with the loss and all of the ways the loss affects our lives. Grief is a difficult and lonely, often all consuming, process especially if we are alone or not connecting with others in our world. The culture does not help, expecting us to recover, “get over it,” “move beyond it,” “get on with life.” None of those things help or are comforting.

If you are experiencing personal life experiences of grief and loss, I am an open and caring listener as you traverse this world. It is a world I am familiar with.

I began to write poetry in the death of my father and then wrote extensively following the death of my mother and my academic career. I also began to paint as I paid attention to that interior landscape, finding escape from the words as the paint filled my canvas. Two of my books of poetry and art resulted from that process. In A Bridge of Returning: An Empowering Journey (2010) I wrote about the deaths of my parents and my youngest sister, Jeanine when I was fourteen.

Grief by Grace Harlow Klein Grief sits inside me Quietly -- away from my awareness. The days pass – one week, two, now a month Everything is marked by that point in time. Its presence takes the edge away from life, Encompassing.

In Loss: A Personal Journey of Empowerment (2010) I wrote my way through the loss of my academic career into a new life. Two books continue the sequence, Transition and Kaleidoscope, My Changing World. Together they chart a process of loss, recovery and emergence. The books are available in My Store  & Amazon.

When my mother died in 1997, I told Armin I needed to go to the beach. We went to Nantucket – his beautiful poem came from that time and place and his image of me as in Botticelli’s painting, The Birth of Venus. Armin’s poem,

As you can see, beautiful images and words emerge from grief and loss, a deeper understanding of the value of life, a heightened awareness of the meaning of the most important connections in our lives, those we love and lose.

Over the past years I lived with the threats to my husband’s life through illness, caring for him at home and grieving the loss of him after his death. We must use all of our senses to find our way through grief. I wrote my way through it in my poetry and through my paintings, The Colors of Grief. See my paintings on my website, www.graceharlowfineart.com. You can also purchase my book, The Colors of Grief as well.