Grief is not finite

...grief is not finite. There is nothing static about loss; it keeps changing, just like we do.

The truth about loss is that the resurgence of old pain and grief has an important purpose. As the pain emerges, we find new ways of healing ourselves that may not have existed before. Return visits to old hurts are an exercise in completion, as we return to wholeness and reintegration.

Another loss is the old "you," the person you were before this loss occurred, the person you will never be again. Up till now, you didn't know this kind of sadness. You couldn't even have imagined anything could feel this bad. Now that you are inconsolable, it feels like the new "you" is forever changed, crushed, broken, and irreparable. These temporary feelings will pass, but you will never be restored to that old person.

What is left is a new you, a different you, one who will never be the same again or see the world as you once did. A terrible loss of innocence has occurred, only to be replaced with vulnerability, sadness, and a new reality where something like this can happen to you and has happened.

Above quoted from On Grief and Grieving. I so get the part about completion and the many layers of completion. It took me a long time to recover from two of my greatest losses. For years, I revisited both of these and found new levels of completion and yes I am not the same person I was before these occurred.

I can not even imagine the loss and grief I will feel on loosing Stu my best friend, partner and running buddy but I know from past losses and with the help of my friends and family that I will be able to pick up the pieces...to reinvent myself once again.