In the beginning, pain seems to be a...

In the beginning, pain seems to be a constant, overwhelming companion until we gradually become familiar with its intensity, and therefore less fearful. The time spent in peaks of pain slowly decreases and the time between peaks becomes longer, providing necessary periods of relief. Initially, relief may be short lived, perhaps just minutes of respite which gradually stretch into hours, days, weeks. We don’t ‘get over’ grief—it just changes shape and intensity as we learn how to live in the physical absence of the person or persons we love.