Youth, Grief, Spring

It’s a completely beautiful spring day: the sun is shining, birds are singing, the crocuses that I planted last fall are blooming in my yard.  It’s hard not to let these things brighten your day.   But life is always weird, and it is quite possible to feel somewhat cheered and also bereaved at the same time, when you lose a friend or family member.

The word bereave has a rather curious origin.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is from the Old English (400-1100 C.E.), meaning to “deprive, rob, strip, or dispossess.”  I find it interesting that we use the word today to refer to the loss of a loved one.  It might be because we feel as if we’ve been robbed of love in our lives, when someone dies.