The Language of Loss

When Barbara Abercrombie’s husband died, she found the language of condolence irritating, no matter how well intended. “My husband had not gone to a better place as if he were off on a holiday. He had not passed like clouds overhead, nor was he my late husband as if he’d missed a train. I had not lost him as if I’d been careless, and for sure, none of it was for the best.” She yearned instead for words that acknowledged the reality of death, spoke about the sorrow and loneliness (and perhaps eve