"It is all right to wallow in one's journal; it is a way of getting rid of self-pity and self-indulgence and self-centeredness. What we work out in our journals we don't take out on family and friends."

-- Madeleine L'Engle

Yes, a journal is normally private. But I do it here. Why make my journal public? I don't know, completely. Somehow it just helps. Somehow it makes me feel better. Perhaps because I don't have a living human in my life to actually talk to. This is almost like having someone, and if I wallow and complain, well, whoever reads it is reading it of their own choice, and so I don't feel like I'm inflicting it on them.

And also, and not least importantly, I have some small hope that what I write may be of some help to someone else who may be experiencing, or processing having experienced, some similar grief and heartache.