Father Guido Sarducci explains the meaning of life and the forgiveness of sins while I recall my mother and mourn her absence this holiday. We each have our own way with grief.

Last Friday I wrote about how to be a good friend to someone who has lost a child in the first few days and weeks after the loss. Thank you so much to those who left comments from their own experience with this agonizing grief. Every small detail can be huge in its impact. The central thing to understand about the grief for a child is that it doesn't ever vanish. Even the most severe edge of grief can linger far past what you might imagine.

All grief differs. The loss of a mate is different from the loss of a parent. And how grief does or doesn't get handled depends on the person who is bereaved. But one thing is certain - the death of a child is among the most agonizing of all grief events. Much has been written for the parents. But little is written about what to do or not do as a friend or family member when someone you know or love loses a child.

Hope, it conquers the sorrow Shout, it eases the heartache. Cry, it soothes the pain. Pray, it brings peace.-Traditional Greek ProverbThis week I have been particularly inspired by the life story of Miss Jenny, a very ill and very determined young woman who is going to have as much fun as possible until it's time to say goodbye.

My friend MariJo died today. She had been fighting cancer for about 9 years, after riding the roller-coaster of successive remissions, clean bills of health and relapses. Traditional methods, prayer, alternative approaches, special Native American healing beads, meditation, chemotherapy, psychiatric support, radiation, special diets, surgeries upon surgeries -- you name it. Her family (2 daughters, one son..the youngest in high school) and her husband have been tireless in their devotion and care for her. When Ron called me today, he said it was the 40th anniversary of their meeting.

I had the greatest dog in the world. I think it's important that I start this out that way, just because I can, and because it's true. Of course yours is the greatest, too - to you. (Please insert whatever meaningful animal in your life in the "dog" space, and if you don't like them or don't have them, pick something else or pretend. It'll be good for you, I promise.)

My godson moved into his freshman dorm at Virginia Tech this weekend. He goes with the very same love, support and pride that accompanies thousands of young people who are off to college this month. It just so happens, though, that he arrived in Blacksburg, Virginia, on the same weekend that the University dedicated a memorial, including 32 "Hokie Stones" for each student killed in last April's mass shooting that took 32 young lives, plus the self-inflicted death of the shooter.

It seems that everywhere I look these days I see people who are grieving. One friend is dealing with a mastectomy. She had been diagnosed with cancer, which is now apparently gone, but so are her beasts, breasts which she loved, celebrated, saw in a way as attached friends. She feels deep grief and deep gratitude all at once. Another friend lost her teen aged son to a freak accident, and is in the throes of a nightmarish, life-gutting grief that all but drowns her.