Introduction to Volume 1

What you are about to do as you begin sharing my grief journey.

This is the introduction to the print version of Facing Grief - The Essays.

You are holding in your hands a very special set of essays. Each one is a glimpse of my struggle with the grief I experienced in the first 31 days after God answered my prayers that my dear sweet Joann would no longer be suffering.

It is a place I sincerely pray you never have to understand.

In taking this journey you are doing an amazingly brave thing. You are choosing to enter my world. A world in which words are inadequate to describe. While you are here with me, your sharing of these essays will bring me a bit of comfort since sharing these deepest of deep thoughts and emotions is one of the greatest gifts of support you can give.

There are difficult moments in what you are about to read - moments I experience quite regularly.

For you, your trip will only be temporary. Yes, you will return to your world. A world where I pray you can then appreciate not only my struggle, but also the struggle of others who face grief on a daily basis.

Do not ever fear showing emotion - either privately as you read these essay or whenever the day comes that we may be together in person.

And when we are together - please talk about her. Do not be afraid of that. Speaking of my dear Joann will strengthen me in ways we cannot even comprehend.

Do not ever be concerned that you may “make me cry”. It will never be you that is the source of that emotion - it will come from the loving thoughts of a lost relationship and all that it means to me.

Yet sharing that emotion will be good for both of us. Emotion is a natural extension of the world of grief I now live in. Sharing these moments of emotion is not a sign of weakness but of comfort to the grieving and brings honor to the one we so desperately miss.

You may not be able to read all of what is here at one time. I know I can not.

I am so grateful that you will be sharing my life as reflected in these essays.

That means more to me than you will ever know.