Dealing with Loss and Pain

As I read the four essays, I was intrigued and shocked.  All of the stories painted a vivid mental image and I felt as though I was feeling what the authors were feeling.  All of these essays dealt with  loss in some kind of way.  The essay I liked the most was Love of My Life by Strayed.  Strayed didn't only have a very interesting story to tell but she made some interesting agruments.  She argues that there is not an single, set way of going through grief and that it is not right to make it seem as all losses have the same emotional impact from one individual to the next.  As a matter of fact Strayed, didn't go through the prescribed stages of grief she simply fucks to deal with her grief and say outright that she would replace her moms lost with someone else who wouldn't be missed as much as she misses her mom. In Beard's essay, I found the relationship Jo Ann had with the dog was a little bit odd.  I don't know maybe because I am not a big fan of dogs.  It seemed as though when I was reading her story,  I found myself reading it over again because it was like she was going from an awake state to a dreaming state.  I was shocked how Beard's story turned out, I had no idea.    The Fishing story reminded me of a movie I once watched called The Family That Preys and I was the least interesting out of all the readings. All in all, I liked these four selections because they allowed  me to see how different people with different experiences deal with loss.