The main story line for the past few episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" has been Dr. Maggie Pierce's mother having breast cancer and dying. The episode that aired on April 6 consisted of Maggie going back to work for the first time after her mother dying. At one point, she had a conversation with her peer about how the entire staff was really surprised that Maggie was taking her mother's death so well. She replied with, "I'm not doing well. I'm doing my job." Maggie continued, "I — I feel awful. While everyone is staring and telling me I am not up for it, I am doing my job because that is what we all do, right?"
This entire scene really stuck with me. This is exactly how I have felt this past semester, and I have had some almost exactly conversations like this with my friends or advisors. When a lot of people thought or assumed I was going to take this semester off after my brother died, I didn't. I went back to my classes, leading my two clubs, and became even more involved with school. All the while, I have felt awful. There have been days when I've had to skip class or a club meeting (I also stopped working for four months, but that's beside the point), and I've honestly been really depressed these past few months. But like Maggie said, I am doing my job. I am a student, and I am a club leader; I'm not going to let anyone down.
I'm not writing this article so that I can talk about how I'm grieving; I'm writing this article to thank "Grey's" for continuing to write these story lines. They've been on for 13 years, and they have always--and will always — write these scenes and storylines to try and relate to viewers. For example, they once had an episode about a very rare disorder called Ehlers Danlos — about 1 in every 5000 is diagnosed worldwide, including my sister (imagine the surprise she had when this was aired!). It's amazing that after so long seasons, they find these new story lines, scenes, and characters to introduce to relate to their millions of viewers.
So, thank you "Grey's Anatomy," for making me feel better about my grieving. I'm sure you've helped a lot more people than just me.
