Grief & Joy Can Co-Exist
This short story is in response to the Journey of Life prompt in February. Human emotions are fascinating and often a bittersweet mixture of pleasure and pain. How confusing can it be to feel joy when we should be grieving or grief when we should be feeling joy?
I think it’s a gift that we can experience such a myriad of feelings in a very short span of time. A comforting gift that pain is fleeting and joy can appear when we least expect it.
My grandfather was an exceptional human, he loved life, he loved his family, he loved strangers and he always had a joke, song or dance to share. Larger than life and he really taught me through example how to be compassionate, how to treasure the people closest to you and how to stay an active participant of your own life.
When he died after a short illness over a decade ago it was shocking. He was so alive, how could he just be gone? My grandmother and him had a soul connection, he pampered and doted on her, she adored him and leaned on his strength as she had suffered from illness and ailments for years.
To say she was devastated would be an understatement. She passed not long after him which did not surprise us, we knew they needed to be together.
My oldest child was only three years old when this happened, but they absolutely loved spending time at Papa’s and Grandma’s house. We visited at least once or twice a week and she lived in my grandfather’s arms for most of the visit touching his face and giggling with him at their silly inside jokes.
The day of the funeral was heart wrenching, the grief was palpable, such a hole was left behind. But then my delightful child did something that surprised us all.
As they lowered my grandfather’s ashes into the ground and the minister pronounced it was done, my wonderful little kid decided to jump as high as they could and shout at the top of their lungs, “Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!”
The blood ran out of my face I quickly reached over to my grandma who was racking with sobs, ready to apologize while my mom tried to stop my wild child.
But my grandma’s sobs started to turn into laughter and a huge smile broke out on her face. She beckoned her great grandchild to come hold her hand and said, “You are right, my love, he should be celebrated, what a life to celebrate.”
We all started to partake in this odd mixture of crying and laughing while we hugged and shared this confusing moment of tremendous joy while going through excruciating grief.
That memory is shared a few times every year over our dinner table, that little slice of real life that demonstrated how beautifully intricate the human soul and mind is, the complexity of emotions and how we chose to celebrate of the entire experience.
If you enjoyed this story you will absolutely love these stories by:
and Shameem Anwar
Thank you to the editing team at Reciprocal for this amazing publication!