Elke, I love this so much and really appreciate you sharing it. I lost my grandmother a couple weeks before I ran into you. Your mom and my grandmother and the happiness to see you were what sent me into tears. I have never been great with sending condolences and I wasn't sure when your mom passed or how, but I was hoping to find out. I am so so sorry Elke. I recently spent the last couple of days of my grandma's life caring for her, reading to her, and held her hand in the last breaths. It was also very peaceful and beautiful, but so so hard, because it too had its complexities. I could compare it to the anger that one would feel towards a driver after a drunk driving collision. If only people wore masks, would that have saved her life? I felt so much rage and anger but I so wanted to just be sad and grieve. The first week back to work, I don't even remember...at all. I couldn't tell you what project I had worked on, what meetings I attended, or if I wore pants. The second week, I remember it took me two hours to do something that would normally take a couple of minutes. My boss and co-workers were also so so amazing and they understood that it was taking time to get back to "my" 100% and never pushed back. I am finally starting to feel back to my old self, but also feeling like all of the feels are on the outside. I am wanting to give back even more to my work and to my co-workers, to share my appreciation, and to let them know I have their backs too.
Elke, I love this so much and really appreciate you sharing it. I lost my grandmother a couple weeks before I ran into you. Your mom and my grandmother and the happiness to see you were what sent me into tears. I have never been great with sending condolences and I wasn't sure when your mom passed or how, but I was hoping to find out. I am so so sorry Elke. I recently spent the last couple of days of my grandma's life caring for her, reading to her, and held her hand in the last breaths. It was also very peaceful and beautiful, but so so hard, because it too had its complexities. I could compare it to the anger that one would feel towards a driver after a drunk driving collision. If only people wore masks, would that have saved her life? I felt so much rage and anger but I so wanted to just be sad and grieve. The first week back to work, I don't even remember...at all. I couldn't tell you what project I had worked on, what meetings I attended, or if I wore pants. The second week, I remember it took me two hours to do something that would normally take a couple of minutes. My boss and co-workers were also so so amazing and they understood that it was taking time to get back to "my" 100% and never pushed back. I am finally starting to feel back to my old self, but also feeling like all of the feels are on the outside. I am wanting to give back even more to my work and to my co-workers, to share my appreciation, and to let them know I have their backs too.