Day 48: How Does a Grief Therapist Grieve? Collect Quality Children’s Grief Books.
As I grief therapist, I am supposed to tell you that I put myself first when my dad died, honored my process, and let my grief be most important.
But that’s not what happened.
As a parent to a 5 year old who was very close to her Bapa, and being that I do not live with another adult, putting my grief first did not happen. At least that first day.
My 5 year old was the first person who I told that my dad died, minutes after I found out. She was the person who rode in the car with me to be with his body in the hospital. She was the person who reminded me to hug his body before we left. She was the person I attuned to the most—in order to talk about what dead means, to prepare her in the sterile ICU bathroom to see her first dead body, and to encourage her to hold his hand if she wanted as it went from warm to cold.
My collection of children’s grief books is something I thought of immediately when I told her the news. Are any of the ones I have good for a 5yo? Do they hold up when the loss is so close, so raw? Are there new ones to be discovered for her? For me?
I am happy to report that my collection holds up for 5 year olds. It is by no means comprehensive, but it’s a good start (more on why in my next post).
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Welcome to my second, 100-day project. I hope to provide a daily offering on something grief-related. I am a grief therapist and educator working with people in Oregon, Washington, DC, Maryland, and Maine. This feed is in honor of each person who has trusted me with their stories and wisdom during their grief journey. I hope that others may benefit from simple and straightforward talk about a topic that can be difficult.