Whew, here are the show notes for Episode 32: Grief Sucks, But I’m Getting Better At Accepting Its Embrace.

As the title suggests, I am in the throes of grief: my grandma died on February 1, and my Uncle Pete died January 16. They were both amazing people whom I adored and their loss is profound. I haven’t found the words yet to describe my grief. I probably never will.

But in this episode, I tried my best to talk about grief, mourning and death. And looking back, I can see I am better at handling grief now at the age of forty-three than I was back in college when my cousin Kym and Grandpa Phil died. Grief sucks, but I am pleased to see that I am allowing myself to experience it this time. (Whereas in college, I mostly denied the grief, pretended I was over their respective deaths, and ate a shocking amount of ice cream.)

In the coming weeks and months, I will probably write more about death, mourning and grief. I’m a writer; writing helps me figure out big things; and these two deaths are huge.

But for now, this is about all I can manage in the way of show notes. I do, however, highly recommend Joan Didion’s memoir The Year of Magical Thinking. I read it in between my uncle’s and grandma’s deaths, and I loved it.