Grief Is Like A Jigsaw Puzzle

by Victoria Guthrie, Tampa, FL, Brief Encounters, 6-98

Grief is a smorgasbord where you do down the line picking a little of this and a little of that.

Grief is like a jigsaw puzzle, some people get all the edge pieces together first and work from the outside in.  Others dump everything out on the table at once and dive right into the middle.  Some never open the box at all, they just look at the picture on the lid and wonder why what’s inside doesn’t match or make sense.

You meet a lot of people when you start a jigsaw puzzle.  Some are full of advice, or they may try to make the puzzle look the way it ought to be instead of the way it is.

But, once in a while, you meet someone who shares their own finished puzzle and helps you make sense of yours.  Then you find it is not as hard as before.  Some of the pieces fit together more easily, and you sigh with relief….and remember.

reprinted  from Suicide Bereavement Support, SW Washington & NW Oregon, July 1998

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