My mother died of metastatic colorectal cancer shortly before three P.M. on Christmas Day of 2008. I don't know the exact time… — Meghan O'Rourke Breathing Copy Share Image
Television has never known what to do with grief, which resists narrative: the dramas of grief are largely internal - for the… — Meghan O'Rourke Chaos Copy Share Image
I have seen that grief can be very different for different people. While the range of emotions experienced is similar, the way… — Meghan O'Rourke Deals Copy Share Image
There is always tension in women's gymnastics between athleticism, grace, performance, and eros. — Meghan O'Rourke Athleticism Copy Share Image
Faith does help mourners survive their loss, some studies suggest; but I imagine one still struggles. — Meghan O'Rourke Death Copy Share Image
Many grievers experience intense yearning or longing after a death - more than they experience, say, denial. — Meghan O'Rourke Death Copy Share Image
What had happened still seemed implausible. A person was present your entire life, and then one day she disappeared and never came… — Meghan O'Rourke Belief Copy Share Image
When my mother was sick, I found myself needing to put down in my journals all sorts of things - to try… — Meghan O'Rourke Found Copy Share Image
Much of Hamlet is about the precise kind of slippage the mourner experiences: the difference between being and seeming, the uncertainty about… — Meghan O'Rourke Differences Copy Share Image
Be patient with yourself. Don't make the loss harder by thinking you should be a certain way, or have bounced back, etc. — Meghan O'Rourke Be patient Copy Share Image
Our minds are mysterious; our conscious brain is like a ship on a sea that is obscure to us. — Meghan O'Rourke Brain Copy Share Image
Loss doesn't feel redeemable. But for me one consoling aspect is the recognition that, in this at least, none of us is… — Meghan O'Rourke Aspect Copy Share Image
A mother is a story with no beginning. That is what defines her. — Meghan O'Rourke Birth Copy Share Image
I am the indoctrinated child of two lapsed Irish Catholics. Which is to say: I am not religious. — Meghan O'Rourke Catholic Copy Share Image
Time doesn’t obey our commands. You cannot make it holy just because it is disappearing. — Meghan O'Rourke Command Copy Share Image
All love stories are tales of beginnings. When we talk about falling in love, we go to the beginning, to pinpoint the… — Meghan O'Rourke Fall Copy Share Image
What's endlessly complicated in thinking about women's gymnastics is the way that vulnerability and power are threaded through the sport. — Meghan O'Rourke Complicated Copy Share Image
If the condition of grief is nearly universal, its transactions are exquisitely personal. — Meghan O'Rourke Death Copy Share Image
I live to collect information, and I am also a perfectionist. — Meghan O'Rourke Information Copy Share Image
Yet the story of Orpheus, it occurs to me, is not just about the desire of the living to resuscitate the dead… — Meghan O'Rourke Descending Copy Share Image
'Hamlet' is a play about a man whose grief is deemed unseemly. — Meghan O'Rourke Grief Copy Share Image
It's a blessing not to be alone in your grief but it's also painful to see your parents and siblings in pain. — Meghan O'Rourke Blessing Copy Share Image
My whole life, I had been taught to read and study, to seek understanding in knowledge of history, of cultures. — Meghan O'Rourke Culture Copy Share Image
Nothing prepared me for the loss of my mother. Even knowing that she would die did not prepare me. — Meghan O'Rourke Knowing Copy Share Image
