Working after death in the family
The New York Times blog, Shifting Careers has an article about working after a death in the family.
When my mother died (nearly 2 years ago? Really?) I was away from work for nearly 2 weeks. I am blessed with friends and a wonderful workplace, so things were fine, yet I worried anyway.
But, when I returned to work, it took an enormous amount of time for me to get my mind back at work, too.
Actually, my mind was pretty much on leave during her illness, too, but you just kind of go into survival mode and muddle through.
I have no sage advice, I suspect it takes different amounts of time for different people to recover, but if it becomes disruptive to your job or life, it might be wise to seek help.
Otherwise, just give it time, it gets better.
I actually went completely in the other direction after my father’s passing. I continued to work, since I was able to flex my hours a bit, and leave early for arrangements and such. I just couldn’t “sit around” the rest of the time, and found it for me to better to keep busy.