The Afterward comes at so many times in so many ways.

I urge you to walk into the Afterward

Yes, run.

Then stop.

Face it.

Experience the pain, the turmoil and grief.

Consume the uncertainty until you extinguish it.

Take every ounce of the Afterward that you can grasp.

Gather it up.

Not in a tight unrecognizable way

Rather, loosely – like picking wild flowers from a field.

Reap it.

Thresh it.

Then let it go.

You need to go into the Afterward.

It is necessary to stay there for a while.

Find your peace; seek it should it be unclear.

Open your hand for help

Know that it is near.

Accept that there is more than the Afterward.

There is the Next.

There is Life.

Live your life now.

Accelerate it.

You are alive

Feel it.

Stunned by loss

Sudden as it is or may be

Issues arise.

Deal with the distress.

The Afterward is not meant to be permanent

You, only you, can make it so.

Your life will go on with or without you.

Release the Afterward.

Set the example.

 Live.

I wrote “The Afterward” just after my father died in December 1999 – I think I actually penned in about February of 2000 as I had several months of sleepless nights, and then I revised it slightly in 2004.