Maze of grief

Many years ago, when I was in LPN school, I learned about the stages of grief. Being a self centered teenager, I naively thought that the grieving process was something you went through in a neat and orderly fashion and then everything was fine again. I've found out the hard way that's not even close to reality. I also thought it was only for a death I've come to think of grief as a maze that you are constantly walking through, for the rest of your life. Just when you think you have found the end, you run into another wall or you find another door you have to walk through, only to find yourself bouncing off yet another wall. I wonder : Does anyone ever truly reach the stage of acceptance?  In my mind, acceptance means that you accept that the person who died is gone or the relationship is over or the opportunity isn't meant to be, and you're okay with that. Maybe my definition is wrong because I don't understand how a human being with all the thoughts and feelings of a normal person can ever truly be okay with that. I lost my mother in law two years ago after a ten month battle with ovarian cancer. I was recently discussing this with my counselor and she's asked me if I had ever really grieved. I guess so but how can you use the word "grieved " in the past tense, if it's something that you are constantly going through and will always be dealing with?