Speaking just for myself, I thought of Tad less often, but when I did, the hurt was nearly as strong as ever. One day at the office, I remembered how I used to read him the monster words before bedtime—the catechism that was intended to banish his fear of the dark—and had to sit down on the toilet in the office bathroom and cry. That wasn't a year or two or even ten after it happened; that was when I was in my fifties. Now, I'm in my seventies and I still don't look at pictures of him, although there was a time when I stored many on my phone. Donna said she did, but only on what would have been his birthday—a kind of ritual. She was always stronger than I was. She was a soldier.

—Steven King: You Like It Darker

Holly Margl is the award-winning author of Witnessing Grief; Inviting Trauma and Loss to Our Coaching Conversations, An Enneagram Perspective, coach, coach mentor, and trainer specializing in grief, trauma, and the Enneagram.