A few months ago, this same year I went through a situation that affected me a lot, two friends died within 3 days of each other. I am a nurse and I had to take care of both of them in their last days, after their deaths I did not imagine how difficult it would be to continue my routine after losing them. It was scary, I felt so fragile and at the same time I felt guilty because I couldn't do anything to save them.

I was looking for books to cope with the losses and I found one with the title "La ridícula idea de no volver a verte" (The Ridiculous Idea of Never Seeing You Again). The book is by the author Rosa Montero published in 2013, this book won the Madrid critics award in that year.

In this book Rosa makes a comparison of what Marie Curie, Polish physicist and chemist, lived through when her husband died in an accident with the grief of her who lost her husband when she fought with a very strong cancer.

There is a paragraph that stayed in my memory, and helped me to respect my times and my emotions.

It happened to me that I took my grief as an illness that had to be cured as soon as possible. I think this is a common mistake, because in our society death is seen as an anomaly and bereavement as a pathology: "We constantly talk about avoidable deaths, as if death could be prevented rather than postponed".

Rosa was married to her husband for 21 years and although the fight against cancer was arduous, her husband didn't make it, but the pain she felt so strong turned him into art, since her book can make those of us who have gone through grief feel that it is normal to feel bad, that it is normal to relapse and cry for no apparent reason, although in these cases there are plenty of reasons.

And after reading about these great women who were not afraid to express what they felt, I can proudly say that although we see death very closely, there is something that it cannot take away from us, the pure and wonderful love that we had the privilege of feeling and we will continue to feel it even though our loved one is no longer here.

Here is another interesting and very true paragraph from the book

The loss of a loved one is such a crazy and senseless experience that it is incredible how much a VISA card with the name of your dead person written in relief can disturb and move you.