I'm really NOT liking grief bursts! I didn't even know about them until Lisa's death. My interpretation is that they are an experience that brings on a reminder of the loved one who has died when you're not expecting it. A person seems to be in a stage of grief after the death, but something happens that causes an extreme emotional response of grief or burst of grief.
I had one in the grocery store. I was shopping along, loading up my cart when the canned music played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Our Lisa loved the Wizard of Oz. She was easily able to quote many of the lines from the movie, sing the song, and she collected Christmas ornaments with the Wizard of Oz theme. My tears just streamed, and I quickly ended my shopping and went to the car to cry.
Another time occurred when I saw a picture of her college friends who had gathered for a weekend reunion. They posed in the same location that they had posed in when they graduated and Lisa was in that picture. Once again, the grief just washed over me.
Today, my husband was going through some boxes in the garage. One of the boxes contained the items that we received back from the hospital on the day that she died. It included her pajamas that she was wearing, several rings, a necklace and her slippers. I'm sure that when the hospital gave them back to us, we couldn't bare to look at them, so we just stuck the box on a shelf for dealing with at another time. Looking at those contents today was like a punch in the gut. Another grief burst---and it's been 3 years!
The only small, but significant thing is that these grief bursts happen further and further apart. I wonder if they ever will go away?Are grief bursts a healthy thing in coping with death? I wonder what other people do to cope with grief bursts?