Being new to grief gives insight — take heed, if you aren't here yet

In the last six months, I have experienced more loss than in the rest of my adult life combined. I’m compelled to share what I see now, writes Jane McNamara

Ask them the name of the person they lived with in 1967 and in 1994, and about the people in their black and white pictures. In a world where so much information is never and can never be lost (much to our dismay) we forget that some information is not stored anywhere. One day, your loved one’s story will be lost in a way that is hard to grasp now.

During my twenties, I worked in a lot of bars. Eighteen, to be exact. Mostly because I moved a lot. Sometimes because I was not very good at the job.

I learned something from always being new that stuck with me: sometimes people who are new to a place see important things about how it works and can offer a kind of insight that others can’t.