The following excerpt is from A Pilgrimage Through Grief: Healing the Soul�s Hurt After Loss, which leads the reader on a pilgrimage, taking her or him through four separate experiences that grief often holds. This excerpt is near the beginning of the book, after the idea of pilgrimage has been explained.

The Experience of Absence
My eyes fill with tears.
What shall I do?
Where shall I go?
Who can quench my pain?
My body has been bitten
By the snake of �absence,�
And my life is ebbing away
With every beat of the heart.
Mirabai

The words composed by this fifteenth century Indian poet reach across years and continents to touch us.
We too can be stung by absence.
We too can be plagued by emptiness.
What we had is gone.
What we took for granted is missing.
What we presumed would be will not come to be.
Around us we feel only barrenness.
And the poet's questions from another era become our questions today.
�Where shall I go?�
�What shall I do?�
Even more difficult,
�Why must I face this absence, this emptiness?�
Whether it is the absence of meaning or of hope,
    the absence of someone we have loved or of something we have held dear,
        the question �Why?� surfaces ever so easily.

Why has thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me?
Psalm 22:1

The emptiness around us reminds us of that other emptiness:
    the one within.
Both ask for some sort of response.
Both call for something to be done.
It may well be the best response is the simplest.
And the most difficult:
Acceptance.
We must accept the absence.
We must feel the wideness by our side,
    the openness that stretches out all around us,
        the hollowness within.
And we must let that absence be.
We must allow it time.
Rather than push it away, as we all want to do,
    we would do well to draw it near.
We would do well to befriend it,
    asking of it not questions that demand,
        but queries that may open possibilities.

It's lovely to see you back Michelle....where you can be among friends, at a sad time, like this.....my thoughts & prayers are with you and your hubby.  I feel your deep saddness and pain in reading this....take tiny steps sweet and let yourself work through  one emotion at a time and give yourself time to accept each one. This way you will be abe to regain your strength & will power to face anything that comes along.

Sending you the magic of an angel & the mystery of an unicorn, in the hope for only better things to come....for you.

Love & hugs Janice

First of all, I'm glad to see you back on Minti, but saddened by your news.  My heart goes out to you and hubby.

Thinking of you at this time..

xxx cazza

 May god give you the strength to overcome the pain

 wishing you peace and hope in the midst of sorrow

 and comfort in the midst of pain

 with Heartfelt Sympathy

  rue

So sorry to hear this.  My good friend had a blighted ovum too but did fall pregnant after and now has a girl.  So there is still a chance for you.  Thinking of you. 

Julie XOX

Oh...my heart goes out to you!!! I can't even begin to imagine how dissapointed you both must feel! I hope that you don't have to wait too long  as the waiting must be very difficult. Loss is a difficult thing to deal with after so much expectation. Be kind to yourselves. Am thinking of you both. Best wishes