Let Go of the future A Poem

"Let it go" When we are grieving we hear this advice often. There is a common misbelief that if we are able to just erase the past then we will hurt less. The truth is that we will always hurt and miss our past, but we will always miss and hurt for the future that we didn't have. Often we want to try to live the life that we had planned but that is difficult to do when someone we love is missing from it. We end up having to "let go" of that future

Artwork by Tanya Lord
About the Artist

Tanya Lord was a special education teacher when Noah died. After his death she read The Institute of Medicine’s report To Err Is Human and realized that the errors responsible for her son’s death were not unique. This created a desire and determination to better understand and work towards improving health care. Currently she has completed a master’s degree in public health and a PhD in clinical and population health research and is completing a post-doctoral fellowship. Lord shares her personal and professional experiences in presentations and workshops for medical staff and students focusing on the importance of effective communication with patients before and after an error. She also is a co-founder of The Grief Toolbox (www.thegrieftoolbox.com), which offers tools to help those along the grief journey. Lord may be contacted at [email protected]