Good Grief

As I move forward to attain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, I have been educated on concepts that are vital to understand in nursing. The concept of grief has allowed me to reflect on my own beliefs about the grieving process. I have always thought that the loss of someone dear meant having to let them go. I believed that resolved grief meant getting over the loss completely. Up until now, I was questioning why I found myself still emotional at times over the loss of loved ones to brain cancer and lung cancer even though 2 years and 17 years have respectively passed. I stumbled upon the answer after gathering research articles for an assignment:

[G]rief is an experience that is ongoing, that changes in nature over time, but that involves a continuing relationship with the deceased; it is a graceful, periodic, deliberate walk backwards while keeping a sure foot in living forward.
(Moules, Simonson, Prins, Angus, & Bell, 2004)

Overall, the literature suggested that what I was experiencing was "normal"...and as a Mental Health RPN, isn't it comforting to know that I am "normal"?