The following is a letter originally posted on my Instagram @DorinaGilmore on January 28, 2020. I wrote this letter while flying home from a funeral in Texas after hearing the devastating news about Kobe and Gianna Bryant and 7 others who were killed in a helicopter accident. Although I don’t know them personally, my widow-mama heart grieved immediately for Vanessa and her three surviving girls. Friends, let’s pray for them together.
Dear Vanessa,?
I know this loss cuts deep and wide, but you don’t need to hold it together. You have permission to grieve your own unique way.
Although millions grieve for you, alongside you, and around you, you don’t need to manage their pain. You need only to tend to your own grief journey, sister-friend.
When my husband soared to Heaven, I too was left with three young daughters. I didn’t think helping them navigate grief was in my mama wheelhouse. We learned to take one step, one day at a time. Your pace is your pace. Make space for grief. Your tears can water their souls.
I know you did not sign up to be a part of this young widow-mama club. None of us did. But you need to know you are not alone. We are a sisterhood that stands together through grief and with hope. We understand the slow ache of grief that starts in the morning. And we lift our eyes to the sunset in gratitude that we have made it through another day.
Thank you for sharing your family with us. Thank you for sacrificing so much so Kobe and Gianna could stand on the world stage and shape the game of basketball. This is certainly your gift to the world.
And when you lay down your head tonight, holding your girls close, please know that our prayers are lighting up the Los Angeles sky like stars. We pray you feel God holding you in His loving arms. May His Presence bring comfort to you in the gaping spaces. The Bryant legacy certainly lives on.
From one widow-mama to another with ?
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