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Interacting with others while grieving can be wildly confusing and tricky. You\u2019ve probably been there. You run into someone you haven\u2019t seen in a long time, likely in a public spot, and this someone doesn\u2019t know the person in your life died. Maybe they ask an innocuous, \u201cHow are you?\u201d or more specifically, \u201cHow's your mom, dad, husband, wife, partner, sibling, or friend\u2026 doing?\u201d On the spot, you\u2019re charged with either telling this person that your person died or faking a sudden and urgent task - maybe yelling out a \u201cHi! Sorry, I forgot I left my keys in the car. Bye!\u201d In this episode, we talk with Caitlin Sweeney about these potentially awkward social interactions in the midst of grief. Caitlin\u2019s mom died of a pulmonary embolism in November of 2015. Caitlin is the youngest of two and until recently, lived in the same town as her older sister and father.

Just a note of acknowledgment that this episode is not meant to shame anyone who\u2019s found themselves voicing platitudes in the face of grief. Platitudes are what we\u2019ve been socialized to say and in a moment when we don\u2019t know what else to say, they tend to jump out of our mouths.\xa0