Renders colors to life that one does not normally see. Grief has a well-earned reputation for making grown folks do strange things, but it also sends the habits of life and thinking into exile status for a period of time. Traditional cultures have had a smart approach – with lifespans shorter and infant mortality high, few could afford the luxury of a long, open-ended period of grieving. Women needed to get back to basic tasks and child-rearing – family unit survival, not merely emotional cohesion, depended on it. They took a period of their lives and changed everything, ululating and wearing special colors and making a basic but conspicuous change to the home. Anything to get through it and get back to substantial tasks. What will 21st Century grieving look like, with the social media tools that allow for a narcissistic self-regard? Getting through the crazy quilt wilderness of major grief requires a purpose. For this writer, it was musical. Here’s one that came out of that sorrowful summer.