The Mourning Period

One of the tenents of Judaica that I most appreciate is the acknowledgment of loss by way of the formal mourning period. The prescribed timeframe for mourning is not meant to indicate that grief is on a schedule, so much as it is meant to ensure that one take the necessary time to contend with one's loss, but also to put a limit on unhelpful sorrow that soon becomes nothing more than an excuse to stop living. Naturally, loss changes you. You never, to some extent, stop missing a loved one, or return to the exact place you were before a dear hope vanished, but the active process of wailing must have checks and balances.

At this point, I believe that my formal mourning period has come to an end.

I'm ready to go back into the fray...smarter this time, but back out there, all the same.