This is part of an article I read today written by Danbury News-Times copy editor Teresa Rousseau. She is the mother of Lauren Rousseau, a teacher killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December. 

We all experience loss and the resulting grief in our lives.  I believe it is how we deal with the losses that define us and honor those that are lost.  This really hit home for me, remarkable words written by someone just a year after losing her child.

Grief is a strange companion. It sneaks up and smacks or trips you when you least expect it. It holds you hostage; you are at its mercy. But it isn't only the property of the Sandy Hook victim's families. It's required of multitudes of people every day.

The lost loved one, the foreclosed home, the cancer diagnosis, the unraveled marriage, the longtime career that's gone. This sadness surrounds us all. In the past year I've experienced how one's own grief is lessened by recognizing other people who are hurting and reaching out to help them.

At Christmas and all year long, do the right thing, be unreasonably generous, cherish your family, choose love, chase joy, don't hold grudges, ignore life's little irritations.

These are things I taught my precious daughter and her brothers, Matthew and Andrew, and advice I leave with you, as well as words that came to me last Dec. 14 and became my mantra: Memories are for comfort, not for pain.

You can read the whole article here.