My friend calls them “the Grief Ninjas.” I think it’s the perfect description.
She’s talking about those moments when you’re in the middle of a run-of-the-mill day or routine task, and all of the sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, feelings of grief come on very strongly. A wave of grief quickly emerges and interrupts whatever you’re doing.
Of course, the Grief Ninjas can also dance around with Love because that’s often how grief works. Grief is love that longs. Grief is love that misses or prepares itself for missing.
As Jamie Anderson says,
“Grief, I’ve learned is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”
Those Grief Ninjas show up whenever they will.
So will Love.
— Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 