Going It Alone

ILLUSTRATION FOR TIME BY ELLEN WEINSTEIN
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John Cail turned to grief counseling to help him cope with the loss of Maxine. For the past six months, he has had one-on-one counseling and group therapy at Alive Hospice. "My counselor helped me see that I had to do things like make social plans, even though after Maxine's death I was lonelier with people than by myself," he says. As he has learned to understand the grief process, he feels the veil of sorrow lifting. "Maxine's death was the worst thing to ever happen to me," he says, "but I'm starting to meet old work friends for lunch, I'm going to church activities, and I stay busy with yard work. Sure, I'm hit with grief now and then, but I finally know I'm going to be O.K."