6 Months of Grief Project: Day 45

Having a moment with one of the oldest and tallest redwood trees in Big Sur. (photo by Johanna Burke)

This is Day 45 of my #6MonthsOfGrief Project. To learn more about this practice, feel free to visit Day One, where I explain this project in more detail.

There are extremely old redwood trees in Big Sur. They tower over you, keeping the sun off your back and soaking up the fog to grow even more taller and stronger. The redwood duff gets in your hair and their bark can be soft and pliable. We met the tree in this photo, on a little hike next to some waterfalls. We were told it was one of the oldest and tallest redwoods in Big Sur. To me, it's shaped like a sexy curvy lady and I couldn't help but get close to it. 

Walking among these giants helped me remember how small and short my life really is. These trees have been standing for so long, withstanding storms and fires and droughts. Some of them fall down. Some are cut down. Some have people fighting for their right to survive. I feel like a very young, naive sister to these powerful trees. They shelter me in my storms and keep me from being burned by the sun. They offer rest when I have walked too long. I am grateful to all the people who fight to keep the redwoods standing - who keep nature wild. I am grateful to all the people in my life who fight to keep me standing and keep me wild.

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I am very aware that this project can bring up a lot around yours or other's grief and loss, I will always follow every post with some online grief support resources that have helped me. Please feel free to let me know of online support that you have found healing in your grief, as well:

Art with Grief:

• Photographer [Sarah Treanor] Takes Moving Self-Portraits to Cope with Her Fiance's Death by Jillian Wong
• When the Fall Comes, a film about Grief by Adriana Marchione
• Self-Portraits: Expressing Emotion Through Art on What's Your Grief?
• The Hard Romance of Grief by Mark Liebenow
• The poetry of John O’Donohue

Resources for Widows:

• Camp Widow

• Soaring Spirits International

Living with Grief Resources:

• Modern Loss's excellent resource list
• Grief Bibliography on Grief Healing

• Teresa “TL” Bruce's What to Say When Someone Dies
• They Brought Cookies: For A New Widow, Empathy Eases Death's Pain by Ann Finkbeiner on NPR
• A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

• Megan Devine’s Refuge in Grief

• The Geography of Sorrow: Francis Weller on Navigating Our Loses, interviewed by Tim McKee in Sun Magazine

• How to Be a Friend in Deed by Bruce Feiler in the New York Times

• 12 Things to Know About the First Year of Grieving Someone You Can’t Live Without by Laurie Costanza in Elephant Magazine

And remember, I am sharing this project on a variety of platforms, including my Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook feeds, as well as my Pinterest page on Grief. I use the hashtag #6MonthsOfGrief, so it can easily be found on any platform. Please share this project with anyone you think might need it.

Thank you, and see you tomorrow.