Time with Gram

I spent time with my 93 year old grandmother over this past weekend. Let me just say that Luella Leboeuf (Gram to me) is one amazing individual. While her short term memory may be slipping due to a stroke last Fall, she has rebounded quicker and more fully than I think any of us suspected. She is the embodiment of superwoman to me.

As we visited, along with my aunt and my mom, I mentioned some of my recent work and we spoke about how we each react to grief. This led me to say something about the 'professionalization of grief'. It was totally NOT what I meant to say... I meant to say normalization... I'm an idiot. 

But this slip of the tongue made me wonder if it would somehow be easier if we took on a role Griever (capital G) when bereft, making grieving somehow advertised as a new unpaid position, like we do of parenthood or marital status. When people ask me about myself, I tell them that I am a wife, mother and fundraiser. It's my conditioned response to tell people about who I am, in a quick soundbite. What if those who are grieving suddenly started adding 'griever' to their elevator pitch?