Recipe for Grief
By Paul Rousseau
3 cups of love
2 cups of “not enough” time
3 tablespoons of sickness (may replace with 4 tablespoons of untimely/sudden)
3 cups of shock
2 cups of disbelief
4 cups of pain
10 cups of tears
1-2 cups of regrets
1-2 cups of guilt
6 tablespoons of wishes
5 cups of sadness
3 cups of longing
16 ounces of loneliness
Instructions: Mix love, time, and sickness. Let sit as long as possible (if untimely/sudden, proceed to next ingredients). Add shock, disbelief, pain, and tears. Simmer for weeks to months. Add regrets, guilt, wishes, sadness, and longing. Let sit until bearable. Add loneliness, cut into small pieces, and serve for a lifetime.
Paul Rousseau is a semi-retired physician and writer, published or forthcoming in The Healing Muse, Blood and Thunder, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, The Human Touch, Please See Me, Months To Years, (mac)ro(mic), Sleet Magazine, The Examined Life, Burningword Literary Journal, Cleaning up Glitter, The Centifictionist, Dr. T. J. Eckleburg Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Tendon, and others. Lover of dogs.