It’s impossible to go anywhere without hearing about the untimely passing of Kobe Bryant and his 13 year old daughter, Gianna Bryant. They were both killed in a tragic helicopter crash that also took the lives of the 7 other passengers. They were all headed to a tournament at the Mamba Sports Academy. What was supposed to be a day of friendly competition and joy took a turn for the worst. Millions of people are mourning the loss of their basketball hero and his daughter, who was a budding basketball talent in her own right. Kobe meant a lot of different things to people, and his popularity transcended past basketball. He was an inspiration for a generation of youth who took his “Mamba Mentality” to heart. You couldn’t go past a classroom without hearing someone yell “Kobe” as they threw their crumpled paper into the trash.

In one of our last posts we wrote about what to say to someone who is grieving and mentioned briefly the complexities related to the grief process. Grief is something that most people, if not all, will experience at some point in their lifetime and it can be one of the most difficult experiences a person will go through. Loss cannot be compared and yet when I hear about parents who have lost a child my heart breaks. No parent is ever prepared for a child’s death. It’s not the natural order of life and even if a parent knows their child is terminally ill, it can be difficult to grasp the idea that they will outlive their child. I think “difficult” is an understatement but I am struggling to find the right word to fully grasp the pain and challenge of knowing your child is no longer in the world of the living. I have heard the death of a child be referred to as the ultimate tragedy, and I can’t think of a more apt way of describing it.

The passing of a loved one is one of the most difficult experience that a person can go through in their lifetime. It can be one of the hardest and emotional times one can go through. Making sense of the loss and how your life changes after the loss is a difficult transition. Most people experience grief in their own way, which can make it difficult to know how to be there for someone who is grieving.