Zags and grief

This most wonderful photo taken by Dan Pelle, just after GU’s heartbreaking loss Saturday, reminded me once again how grieving the loss of sports games is a preparation for deeper griefs in life.

Especially this reality: When it’s over, it’s over.

In hospitals, after someone has died, and the family has had its time to cry and reflect and make phone calls, the room clears. Within hours, after the deceased person has been removed, the room is flled with another patient.

Life is for the living.

And so the Big Dance goes on without the Zags.

Like a funeral, there will likely be warm welcoming and memory sharing on the GU campus this week, I hope.

And then, back to business as usual.

This happens in death, too. The person dies. The family grieves. Services are held and then, it’s back to daily living.

What Pelle’s photo catches is the first shock of realizing it’s over. All that work, all that struggle, all that hope.

The eyes in this photo — coaches and players — are sad. But they encircle their arms around one another. And they go on, because that’s what you do.

(S-R photo by Dan Pelle)