Patton Oswalt writes heartbreaking post about grief after his wife's death

It has been 102 days since Patton Oswalt's wife, Michelle McNamara, passed away unexpectedly in her sleep.

102 days, Oswalt writes in an emotional Facebook post published last night, is a long time: "If you spend 102 days completely focused on ONE thing you can achieve miracles. Make a film, write a novel, get MMA ripped, kick heroin, learn a language, travel around the world. Fall in love with someone. Get 'em to love you back."

"But 102 days at the mercy of grief and loss feels like 102 years and you have shit to show for it."

Despite his intense grief, he describes the kindness that has helped him during this difficult time in the following passage:

You will have been shown new levels of humanity and grace and intelligence by your family and friends. They will show up for you, physically and emotionally, in ways which make you take careful note, and say to yourself, "Make sure to try to do that for someone else someday." Complete strangers will send you genuinely touching messages on Facebook and Twitter, or will somehow figure out your address to send you letters which you'll keep and re-read 'cause you can't believe how helpful they are. And, if you're a parent? You'll wish you were your kid's age, because the way they embrace despair and joy are at a purer level that you're going to have to reconnect with, to reach backwards through years of calcified cynicism and ironic detachment.

McNamara was the founder of the site True Crime Diary, and she had been working on a book before her death. She was writing "about a horrific series of murders that everyone -- including the retired homicide detectives she worked with -- was sure she'd solve."

Any energy Oswalt has found in the past 102 days has been put into finishing her book. Oswalt writes that he has been working on it, "with a lot of help from some very amazing people."

He promises that it will be released.

"[I]t will come out," he wrote. "I will let you know. It's all her. We're just taking what's there and letting it tell us how to shape it."

Eventually, he plans to work on comedic projects again. But for now, his main focus is on recovery from grief. He writes, "It's 102 days later and I can confidently say I have reached a point where I'm crawling. Which, objectively, is an improvement. Maybe 102 days later I'll be walking."