June 03, 2015

Read Sheryl Sandberg's heartfelt Facebook post on the loss of her husband

"I want to choose life and meaning."

By Leah Kauffman
PhillyVoice Contributor

Julie Jacobson/AP

Sandberg on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 took to her Facebook page to mark the end of a period of intense mourning following the May 1 death of her husband by saying "I want to choose life and meaning."

Facebook COO Cheryl Sandberg took to the social platform today to express her thoughtful meditations on the untimely loss of her husband, David Goldberg, who passed away while on a family vacation in Mexico last month. Sandberg had just completed the Jewish tradition of sheloshim, the first 30 days of mourning a loved one.

Below are 7 poignant highlights from her statement:

"I think when tragedy occurs, it presents a choice. You can give in to the void, the emptiness that fills your heart, your lungs, constricts your ability to think or even breathe. Or you can try to find meaning."
"I have gained a more profound understanding of what it is to be a mother, both through the depth of the agony I feel when my children scream and cry and from the connection my mother has to my pain."
"I have lived thirty years in these thirty days. I am thirty years sadder. I feel like I am thirty years wiser."
"Real empathy is sometimes not insisting that it will be okay but acknowledging that it is not."
"I have learned how ephemeral everything can feel—and maybe everything is. That whatever rug you are standing on can be pulled right out from under you with absolutely no warning."
"I have learned to ask for help—and I have learned how much help I need."
"I have learned gratitude. Real gratitude for the things I took for granted before—like life. As heartbroken as I am, I look at my children each day and rejoice that they are alive. I appreciate every smile, every hug. I no longer take each day for granted."

Read the post in it's entirety here.

Leah Kauffman
PhillyVoice Contributor