Having an anchor for my grief – Grief Interpretation with Art

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September 5th 2023

Recently there have been a couple of situations that have come up that have given me pause on the day-to-day of things and reminded me of my grief journey over the past years.

All three involve grief but in very different ways. One involves the grief journey I have been on with my husband’s late wife’s amazing family. Another was the current experience a friend of mine is going through with her loved one and the final story is a new person that TAPS has brought into my life to help be heard and grow me to the next level.

In each situation, bits and pieces of my grief journey after my father’s passing were part of the conversation. Talking about how he died, talking about his stuff, and sharing how hard he worked to make our lives better and easier than his even after death.
After those conversations, I caught myself thinking deeply and longingly of him and missing him. I also felt myself thinking in the most positive ways possible about these things that were the best of him. It surprised me when at one point I just wanted to get in my car and go up to the military museum so I could sit in front of the painting and reflect on the best of him to me.

That was when I knew this painting was the best gift he helped me give myself to grieve his passing. The painting has now become an anchor symbol for me and when I need to connect with my father or need to access some great wisdom he passed along that I wasn’t paying enough attention to at the time to grab hold of, I have this beautiful anchor that continues to move my grief journey forward and expand me as a person.

When I started this process, I had no idea how many amazing healing opportunities would come from it.
I find myself being so grateful on a weekly basis.