Memento Mori

Grief is the culmination of our deepest fears, but it can make us better

Photo by Mathew MacQuarrie on Unsplash

“All your sorrows have been wasted on you if you have not yet learned how to be wretched.”

-       Seneca, Consolation to Helvia, Dialogues and Letters

When I was four or five, my mother took a watercolour painting class. It was a rare indulgence on her part and, it’s clear to me now, evidence of a desire for some aut…