Grief attacks

I'm having a grief attack today. They happen now and then, and as the Grieving and healing in the afterloss page says, they are not setbacks but part of the grieving experience.

It started with the Lancaster flight across Tideswell. Standing at the very top of the garden, in the glorious sunshine with friends, we heard the low rumble of the four distant Merlin engines. And then the beautiful Lancaster flew across with a sound that vibrates deep inside you. Three sweeps across the village, grey against the china blue sky, the final right over my head. Tim would have so loved it. Would have known where it was based, its history. And would have done a far better job of explaining how the bombs worked to a friend's young cousin. I feel I have lost so much – so much knowledge, so many stories, so much love.

And now I'm just about to disassemble the bed that Tim died in. I have ordered a new bed and mattress, new bedding and new bedlinens that are all arriving on Monday. I need to do this, as part of… something that's hard to describe. It's not moving on. It's not working through. It's not getting over. I don't know what it is. Perhaps it's part of being brave, living life 3.0 to the best of my abilities.

I was excited about all this newness. A waxed pine bedframe. A wool mattress, duvet and pillows. But now it has come to it, I'm no longer sure. It feels like I am giving a part of him away. That the room will be my bedroom rather than our bedroom. I know that I can't make the house a shrine to Tim. And that making changes will help me to cope in the longer term. But there is always a cost.

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