If you are new to grief and fear the tears, know that even after more than a year of crying, I am not a dried husk. Crying controlled me for a while, but no longer.

Our tears are filling a massive divine chalice, some sort of miraculous container that is holding the immensity of our collective pain. Every tear of our collective grief is an expression of love.

The five stages of grief model was based on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's work with dying patients. (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) The importance of 'continuing bonds' with lost loved ones ...