Travel the world grief

Conventional grieving wisdom says that widows and widowers shouldn’t make any major changes for a year.

But we’re learning here at EndNotes that people grieve very differently. And it’s OK. There is no one right way.

Pia Hallenberg had an excellent story today on Dawn Picken, a former Spokane TV journalist who lost her husband in January 2010 and then traveled the world with her children, ages 6 and 4 when their father died.

“It’s not like I didn’t grieve, I did and I do,” Picken said. “I just got to grieve in some of the most beautiful places on this earth.” She adds that the round-the-world trip in so many ways is a gift from Stanelun because it was made possible by his life insurance. Picken brought Stanelun’s ashes along.