When I started my journey down this path of grief, I was told by many that this type of grief is one that you never get over.  There is some truth to this statement, however I am finding you never forget and certain situations will arise that can take you back to a level of the grief that you thought was behind you.

I had one of those experiences this past weekend.  As I mentioned in a previous post,my husband has been gone 39 months, and as of this post, it’s now almost 40.  Also could be referred to as 3 years and 4 months!  My husband’s passion was trains.  He loved them! At one time he was into the HO gauge trains, but somewhere early in our marriage as a result of me seeing the G scale trains in a hobby shop, he left the HO and was totally into the G scale.  These can be run outdoors as a garden railroad.  Over the years his outdoor garden railroad kept growing and growing.  He spent hours outside with his trains, especially after he retired.  His platform was a complete labor of love.

After his passing I couldn’t even think about taking the railroad down.  There was so much of him  in there.  I didn’t need to demo it for any particular reason, so I just left it to be dealt with when I felt the emotional time was right.  It also took me some time to find someone who was willing to do the demo.  Well, this past Saturday was the final demo day. I watched the years of loving hard work and enjoyment go into a dump truck.  I thought I was completely ready for this, but after it was all hauled away and I stood in the leveled dirt where all trains used to run, I was taken back to the early days of the painful grief.  I looked around with tears in my eyes and that knife in my gut feeling and thought, “This really has happened”.  It was that surreal feeling once again even after all these months.

Saturday was a difficult day!  This is what was meant when I was told you never get over it. My wounds have only scabbed over they haven’t formed solid scares, and the scab was ripped open again.  It wasn’t as painful or intense and neither did it last as long as the waves of grief lasted in the beginning, but it definitely was a wave.

Yes, I can honestly say I have made progress in moving forward through this grief.  However, the reality is that there will be situations, events, circumstances that will scratch the scab. No one will receive a diploma for the completion of this grief!

Hugs

Elizabeth