09/29/2026
A Backpack filled with Rocks ....
The way I personally describe grief is this:
Imagine someone, one day, handling you a backpack
filled with rocks and telling you that you have to wear it
for the rest of your life.
Initially, of course, you’d deny it, refuse to accept it -
but suddenly, it’s there.
The backpack is on your back.
And you can’t take it off.
You get upset, you’re angry, you try as you might to pull
it off. You can’t.
You can’t fit into the same spaces you used to be able to;
it’s heavy, cumbersome and is present everywhere you go.
You have to negotiate the world differently.
And people start to treat you differently. Some make more
space for you, are empathetic.
Others are awkward and
the space widens between you.
They don’t always know
what to say; they’ve never had to carry a backpack of
rocks, after all.
Author Unknown
Artist Credit: Alejandro de Riquer é Inglada
My Garden of Grief