Seldom will anything break your heart as easily as the sight of your child in unbelievable emotional pain... and what greater pain is there to a child than the tragic loss of a parent. Though it has been many years since his death, my daughter still experiences bouts of sadness because Daddy is not here anymore.

I have always taken great umbrage at anyone criticizing, questioning or opining on how the widowed handle their grief and their highly individual and intensely personal healing journeys. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of it going on.

The widowed community generally spends a lot of time talking about how much late spouses are missed. Not only is this completely and totally normal, it is also a welcome catharsis and a necessary factor in moving through the grieving process. But do you ever miss 'you' as well?

You have read it in newspapers, you have seen it in obituaries or heard it at funerals and you have certainly heard it on the news many times -- you may even actually say it yourself.

No one has the right to criticize how anyone suffering a loss handles anything -- from whether or not they visit a gravesite (be it sooner, later or ever) to a decision to sell everything that they own and sail around the world.