We've all heard the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I've gone through most of these but this past weekend I went through the final stage—acceptance. Let me tell you, this is NOT the final stage. Grief is not linear. You may go through one stage onto the next one, but then end up going back into a previous stage at any given time. People tell us we'll go through these stages but they never tell us we'll go through them over and over and over. Acceptance isn't the final stage because grief never truly ends, no matter how long it's been since they've gone. Like Shrek, grief has complicated layers and will also make you cry like an onion.