Grief isn't a path that you take to get to the other side, it is a box with puzzle pieces in it. Your life is completely disassembled when someone you love dies. Your job is to put it back together and that is never a straight path with little diversions into anger or denial. It is adding one piece back at a time until you have something that is functional. You will never have all the pieces again, your life will never be whole. But when you behold your accomplishment, it will vaguely resemble the life you had with some holes. Those holes will be filled with the love and memories of that person.