Grief Has No Template

It has been just three weeks since my dad passed, but nearly ten since the accident that set cruel events in motion. In this fragile span of time, I’ve come to better understand what so many people have probably told you before: that grief does not follow a timetable, and there is no template.

Grief is not something you can schedule, manage, or predict. Everyone processes it differently. Some rush to social media seeking prayers, sympathy, or simply a connection. Others withdraw into silence, brooding alone and shutting out the world. I find myself somewhere between these extremes, navigating grief in fits and starts, trying whatever I think might work, learning as I go.

On the same day my dad passed, my best friend lost his father too. Then, just over three days later, my dad’s older brother died. What amounted to three funerals in two days left me numb, discouraged, and utterly defeated. Grief piled on top of grief, each loss compounding the weight until I felt like I was moving through a fog, struggling to process any of it. There was no time to catch my breath, no moment to pause and fully mourn one loss before the next wave hit. It was overwhelming, leaving me questioning how much more I could take.

The responsibility of being a father, brother, son, husband and friend kept me moving, giving me purpose through the blur of loss. But once the…