I recently started going to grief counseling. After 7 months of dealing with everyone else's grief, I felt it was time to tackle my own. I'm very good at compartmentalizing parts of my life. It wasn't until my grief overflowed into my job and quality of work that I realized it was time to deal with it. In my first session, I received this handout. It is a letter to friends and family. I've been on the fence about sharing it but with more "firsts" on the horizon, I felt it was important to share. There are a few parts that I added myself, but only because they were important to me. Dear Family and Friends, On August 30, 2017, I suffered a devastating loss. I am grieving and it will take months and even years to recover from this loss. I wanted to let you know that I will cry from time to time. I don't apologize for my tears since they are not a sign of weakness or lack of faith. They are God's gift to me to express the extent of my loss, and they ar