You cannot understand grief by reading its definition. You can only understand the emotion when you can feel the emotion.

Every widow's experience is unique, but they often share their circumstance. Cancer Widow, Addict Widow, Suicide Widow, War Widow. No matter what type of widow we are, the label given often informs our experience.

In English, we only have three words to label grief: widow, orphan and bereaved. When a loved one has died, being able to use one of these words is both a blessing and a curse.