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Mother Finds Comfort Saying Daughter’s Name

Posted on May 29, 2025 - by Harriet Hodgson

Few ask how I’m doing these days. Friends have resumed their lives and so have I. Today, I’m living a new, meaningful and happy life. Yet there are times when the pain of losing my daughter in 2007 hits without warning. Suddenly, I am transported back in time and see terrible images from the hospital emergency room. Since these mental pictures drag me down, I consciously switch my thoughts to positive pictures, such as my twin grandchildren graduating from high school. I’m glad I learned how and when to do this. Though we all go through grief, Americans tend to […]

Moving after Loss: The Grief of Leaving the Home You Love

Posted on May 27, 2025 - by Harriet Hodgson

Moving after Loss Moving is one of the most stressful experiences of life. My husband and I have moved so many times we’ve lost count and we’re good at moving. We’ve lived in our present house for 20 years, the longest time we’ve lived anywhere, and made the house our own. This house has nurtured us through some tough times and now we must move. In the fall, my husband’s aorta dissected for the second time. He had three emergency surgeries, including a 13-hour operation to graft a Dacron descending aorta to his existing aorta. It was life-threatening surgery. His […]

Why I Talk to Light Bulbs: I See My Dead Son

Posted on May 26, 2025 - by Betsy Thibaut Stephenson

Why I Talk to Light Bulbs I see my dead son everywhere. He’s out of reach, and my brain knows it, but my brain keeps looking for him. He has thoroughly infiltrated my senses, revealing himself in sounds like clinking beer bottles, the rumbling laughter of his father, and the flicker of the lights that illuminate my bathroom vanity. Mothers never stop sending signals to their children. Within days of Charlie’s death by suicide three years ago, I noticed flickers everywhere. When I was thick with grief, unable to eat or focus or track simple conversations, muscle memory pulled me […]

Grieving for Our Fallen Soldiers This Memorial Day

Posted on May 26, 2025 - by Gloria Horsley

Memorial Day is a day to stop and reflect on all those who have fought for our freedom and country. Across all types of wars and conflicts, they have been on the front lines, putting their courage to work on our behalf. Grieving a soldier is an important act. While we often miss these loved ones, Memorial Day is a special time to stop and remember them. Many people take this time to visit the graves of soldiers and pay their respects. It can be a solemn experience, but it can also be a positive one that reminds us of […]

Nature and Grief: Empowering Teachings from the World Around Us

Posted on May 23, 2025 - by David Roberts

Nature and Grief Following the death of my eighteen-year-old daughter Jeannine in March of 2003, I embraced non-ordinary phenomena to help me develop new insights. One of the things that became clear to me was that we do survive death, and that our deceased loved ones communicate their ongoing existence to us. My willingness to understand the significance of signs and their underlying connections have allowed me to develop clarity and find my peace with Jeannine’s death. There are many individuals who don’t believe in signs or for whatever reason have not received them. However, there are different ways to […]

What a New Widow Should Know to Survive

Posted on May 17, 2025 - by Linda Della-Donna

When you suddenly find yourself without your life partner, you don’t know what to expect. Your world’s been turned upside down. Like the mighty oak caught in a fierce wind, you feel uprooted. Your feet don’t touch the ground. You think you’re crazy. But you’re not. You’re just a new widow. Your husband is dead and your life is forever changed.

Scripting Our Own Grief Paths after the Death of Our Children

Posted on May 17, 2025 - by David Roberts

Relationship Continues after Daughter’s Death The relationship that I continue to share with my daughter Jeannine following her death in 2003 has on most days allowed me to embrace a peaceful perspective. As part of our ongoing relationship, she has regularly communicated signs of her presence. In the beginning, I longed for signs because the pain of her physical absence was unbearable. Today, I still welcome signs from my daughter but no longer rely on them. Jeannine makes her presence known when I need it most or simply when she desires contact with me. I also know that I can […]

The Broken Places: Strength after Loss

Posted on May 16, 2025 - by David Roberts

The Broken Places I was watching a promotional ad on television recently for the show “Intervention” and saw a quote from Ernest Hemingway, which read: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Actually, this quote is a passage from Hemingway’s novel: “A Farewell to Arms.” Hemingway was one of the great American writers of his time, who died in 1961 as a result of suicide. As an aside, Neil Peart of Rush wrote the lyrics to a hauntingly beautiful song called “Losing It” which in part alluded to the rise and fall of Ernest […]

Missing Mom on Mother’s Day

Posted on May 15, 2025 - by Mary Jane Cronin

Missing Mom on Mother’s Day My friend and I were recently having breakfast and talk turned to the upcoming Mother’s Day. Both of us have lost our mothers recently and a look of sadness and “I miss her” tears began to fill our eyes. As my thoughts drifted back to my years as a child, when I scurried to make Mom breakfast in bed and bring her flowers from the yard, I softly smiled. She pretended to be surprised and always ate my creations, whether they were tasty or not. Growing into a young woman, the gifts became more memorable […]

‘I Want My Dad to Walk Me Down the Aisle’

Posted on May 14, 2025 - by Michelle Gallucci

When Your Father Dies Have you ever wondered why the good die young? I think about that all the time. It was a perfect Saturday. The couple went to the Bronx, walked around laughing and reminiscing. They went home watched a movie with their kids, but he couldn’t fall asleep. His chest was hurting, he didn’t feel well. Suddenly, he wasn’t breathing. That great man was my dad. How could a perfectly healthy man just suddenly not be there when you get home from school? The thought of what happened that night is always in my head. I wonder if […]