Verb
pick up the pieces (third-person singular simple present picks up the pieces, present participle picking up the pieces, simple past and past participle picked up the pieces)
(idiomatic, intransitive) To restore one's life (or a given situation etc.) to a normal state, after a calamity, shock etc.
Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over. Octavia Butler
I became comfortable with what I knew would be the process of trying to pick up the pieces of brain that were in the rubble and tried to make some mosaic out of the pieces and that that would be the trajectory. Art Spiegelman
when the fierce, burning winds blow over our lives-and we cannot prevent them-let us, too, accept the inevitable. And then get busy and pick up the pieces. Dale Carnegie
Sometimes I think the human heart is just a simple shelf. There is only so much you can pile onto it before something falls off an edge and you are left to pick up the pieces. Jodi Picoult
Edward Snowden may not be a Chinese mole, but he might as well be. He's just handed Beijing a major score, while the NSA struggles to pick up the pieces - and the rest of us pay the price in terms of future national security. Arthur L. Herman
Everyone wants someone they can hold and love. Someone who will be there to help pick up the pieces when everything falls apart. (Acheron) Sherrilyn Kenyon