My mother never liked Mother's Day. She thought it was a fake holiday dreamed up by Hallmark to commodify deep sentiments that couldn't be expressed with a card. Meghan O'Rourke cardcommodifyday Change image and share on social
But there is a discomfort that surrounds grief. It makes even the most well-intentioned people unsure of what to say. And so many of the freshly bereaved end up feeling even more alone. Meghan O'Rourke bereavediscomfortend Change image and share on social
My theory is this: Women falter when they're called on to be highly self-conscious about their talents. Not when they're called on to enact them. Meghan O'Rourke callconsciousenact Change image and share on social
A mother, after all, is your entry into the world. She is the shell in which you divide and become a life. Waking up in a world without her is like waking up in a world without sky: unimaginable. Meghan O'Rourke divideentrylife Change image and share on social
I wasn't prepared for the fact that grief is so unpredictable. It wasn't just sadness, and it wasn't linear. Somehow I'd thought that the first days would be the worst and then it would get steadily better - like getting over the flu. That's not how it was. Meghan O'Rourke baddayfact share on social
I envy my Jewish friends the ritual of saying kaddish - a ritual that seems perfectly conceived, with its built-in support group and its ceremonious designation of time each day devoted to remembering the lost person. Meghan O'Rourke buildceremoniousconceive share on social
My mother died of metastatic colorectal cancer shortly before three P.M. on Christmas Day of 2008. I don't know the exact time of her death, because none of us thought to look at a clock for a while after she stopped breathing. Meghan O'Rourke breathecancerchristmas share on social
All love stories are tales of beginnings. When we talk about falling in love, we go to the beginning, to pinpoint the moment of freefall. Meghan O'Rourke beginbeginningfall Change image and share on social
Loss doesn't feel redeemable. But for me one consoling aspect is the recognition that, in this at least, none of us is different from anyone else: We all lose loved ones; we all face our own death. Meghan O'Rourke aspectconsoledeath Change image and share on social
But when my mother died, I found that I did not believe that she was gone. Meghan O'Rourke diefindmother Change image and share on social
