Honoring your loss on Memorial Day
It’s Memorial Day weekend in the States. Of course, the actual meaning of the Memorial Day holiday is rooted in grief: it’s meant as a special time to remember those who have died in service to their country, or died after service to their country.
It should be (or could be) a time to talk about grief. But grief isn’t a comfortable topic for most people, which is why even a holiday centered on grief doesn’t pay much attention to grief itself.
There’s another great big elephant in the room this year: with over a million people dead from COVID in the US alone, many military families are grieving fresh losses. COVID hit veterans hard, both because many in the veteran population are older adults, and because vets often have health issues that put them at risk.
And even if your family isn’t grieving the death of a veteran, this first long weekend of the summer season can be rough if someone is missing from your annual cookout, too.
There’s a lot of grief – visible and invisible – on this holiday weekend.
What’s Memorial Day weekend been for you in the past? What’s it like for you this year – has anything changed? If you’re planning to gather with others to celebrate the life, or mourn the loss, of someone you love, let us know in the comments.
