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Cat Offers Solace in the Grieving Years

Posted on January 7, 2012 - by Bobbi Emel

After my partner, Ruth, died in 2004, I found solace in a most unusual source, our sixteen-year-old calico cat, Daisy. Now, I know pets are often a great source of comfort to us, but Daisy was special. She was blind. I always thought I would need to take care of her after she suddenly lost her sight when she was about fifteen. “Sometimes this just happens to older cats,” our vet had said at the time, shrugging her shoulders. But Daisy didn’t really need any extra care. When I moved shortly after Ruth died, my cousin and I taught Daisy […]

‘I Can’t Tell Them I’m Dying’

Posted on January 5, 2012 - by Marty Tousley

A reader writes: I am married and the mother of three children. I have been told by my doctors that I have a rare and terminal illness. My husband and children love me and need me, and they do not know that I am dying because I cannot tell them. How can I tell the ones who count on me that I won’t be here for them? How can I tell them that I brought them into the world with love and tears, and now I’m leaving? My husband and children don’t know. I won’t let them know. Why should […]

Son Sends Signs that He’s Never Far Away

Posted on January 4, 2012 - by Patrick T. Malone

When our second son, Lance, was born, he quickly found the middle two fingers of his right hand served his well as a pacifier. His index and little finger extended straight up on each cheek creating the “hook’em horns” symbol made famous by the University of Texas at Austin. When his habit continued as a toddler, we would gently remind him he was sucking his fingers by saying, “hook’em horns,” and he would stop. Lance was killed in a motorcycle accident on Memorial Day May 29, 1995, at age 25. Two years later, his younger brother Sean married Jennifer and […]

How Do I Handle Unexpected Troubles?

Posted on January 3, 2012 - by Carl Mathis

When times are troubling, how do you handle it? 1: Choose something that makes you smile and makes you happy–then think about it on a daily basis. By thinking about it, it will program into you thinking capability, which will transform into you action, as a result you attitude towards that situation will change. 2: Realize that you are not the only one with unfortunate situations and circumstances, so don’t be so hard on yourself. In most cases, your situation may be small compared to others. Everyone has some kind of challenge in their life. Everybody is busy with their […]

In Widowhood, Woman Discovered her ‘Song’

Posted on January 2, 2012 - by Laurel D. Rund

I am a woman who has been reborn in the afternoon of her life. The death of my husband of 42 years could have stopped me in my tracks. Instead, it not only took me on a journey into grief, it also took me on a journey into self-discovery. I didn’t have an answer, but I knew I had a “song.” “A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song!” Chinese Proverb After my husband’s death, I felt alone, undefined and invisible. At that time I wrote in my personal journal, “I […]

Creating Positive Affirmations for a New Year

Posted on January 1, 2012 - by Harriet Hodgson

Losing four family members in 2007 changed my thinking. I wondered if I would survive multiple losses. More worrisome, I wondered if I would ever be happy again. It didn’t take long for me to realize I needed an attitude adjustment. Somehow, I had to turn my negative thoughts to positive ones. I began to write affirmations. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. Affirmations came to me in the car, at the grocery store, and while I was fixing meals. At first, I wrote the affirmations in my mind. But I wrote so many affirmations I started a computer file […]

The Circle of Life, the Spirit of Hope

Posted on January 1, 2012 - by Susan Whitmore

After eleven long hours of pain, there she was─chestnut brown hair, vivid blue eyes, cute pug nose, round face and full lips. She was so beautiful. It was instant love. I knew in that moment that my life would never be the same again. The circle of life had begun. The year was 1970, and her name was Erika. She was my only child. I was a happy, contented mother. Erika was everything to me─my meaning and purpose in life. We traveled through our lives together, never taking our gift of love for granted. Thirty years had flown by, and […]

A New Year’s Hope: Prayer for Peace

Posted on December 31, 2011 - by Shirley Wiles-Dickinson

Prayer for Peace If there is to be peace in the world, There must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, There must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities, There must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, There must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart. I recently came across this prayer and have spent hours thinking about it. In the world today, we so […]

From ‘I’m Tired’ to ‘I’m Glad’

Posted on December 30, 2011 - by Deb Kosmer

I’m tired of starting the day without you. I’m tired of waiting for the call that never comes. I’m tired of coming home to an empty house. I’m tired of sleeping alone. I’m tired of having no one to tuck in at night. I’m tired of seeing happy families. I’m so tired of feeling alone. I’m so tired of hearing this too shall pass. I’m just so tired of my life. When someone we love dies, we are left to endure so many things. Their death is the big obvious one but slowly we begin to realize there is so […]

Nine Gifts from Grief

Posted on December 29, 2011 - by Maureen Hunter

It can be hard to grasp or even accept the idea that there are such things as “grief gifts.” How can we possibly believe that the experience of grief and loss will bestow any such gift? Especially when all we have now is an aching longing for that which is so out of reach. It is not a new concept. History and literature abounds with a similar notion. “In my end is my beginning.” — Mary Queen of Scots “Sadness flies on the wings of the morning. And out of the darkness comes the light” — Jean Giraudoux “Even the […]