Question: Talk about coping over the years after the loss of a child.

I can’t think of a greater loss than the death of a child. Children are our legacy to the world. They are a piece of ourselves. They are what we leave behind when we die. Our children certainly are not suppose to die before we do.

How do we cope with our grief over the death of our child? With strength, perseverance, gratitude and time.

Strength to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other to get through each day. Strength to figure out how to go on living.

Perseverance to cry the tears, scream the screams, rage with the anger and then move forward in the day knowing the tears, screams and rage will come again and again and still we move forward.

Gratitude for the gift the child gave us by being in our life for however long it was. Better to have had the gift for a short time than never at all. Gratitude for the love and joy of being a parent.

And time--time gradually fills in the space between the pain. We don’t heal or recover or even understand why our loved one is gone from us. Time simply makes life a bit more bearable as we live with our loss.

Finding a way to celebrate our child's life, to contribute to society in that child’s name, to let how well we figure out how to go on living be our tribute can all give us direction in our grief.