[Image credit: scottchan]

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~ Kahlil Gibran

This past week, the topic of loss has been no stranger both nationally and locally: a music icon, a former high school classmate and the three-year anniversary of my mother’s passing.  Loss is one of those common, yet inevitable threads — like illness and taxes — which we all encounter at some point in our journey.  Which means it cannot help but allow us to span the distance between our own lives and those of people we’ve never before met.  Because eventually, we’ll all pass through that well-traveled place of deep distress.  Recently, I read that empathizing Italians say L’ho provato sulla mia pelle, which means “I have experienced that on my own skin”— a visual described as mutually sharing the scorch mark or scarring that grief leaves behind.  Consequently, as we collectively and individually move forward on our life’s route with its myriad ups and downs, I believe none of us are truly alone.

How do you or others close to you express the sense of loss?