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Easter Adoption Gives Pain, Then Peace

Posted on April 23, 2011 - by Richard Ballo

Growing up Catholic, Easter meant dressing up for church and coloring Easter eggs and eating chocolate. Many years later, my wife Lisa and I did the same thing with our young children. Seven years into our marriage, and two years after Lisa’s devastating diagnosis of cancer, Lisa, our two children and I were living with our eyes on the future. Lisa and I had talked about having more children but at this point, we could only adopt if an agency decided to take us on as clients. We did find an agency that took us on because there are no […]

our beautiful jo holly

Posted on April 22, 2011 - by admin

one year ago tonight our 27 year old high school art teacher who graduated amgna cum laude and loved her students and her profession succumbed to the pain and agony of self-medicating bipolar disease. she had developed it after years of anxiety and found pain killers could help ease her pain but of course they also ruined her life and in a psychotic break she hung herself with a clothesline and her daddy found her the next morning on his way to work. one year should help some but i do not feel better; i feel guilty; ifeel lost; iyearn […]

Caregivers: We’re Not Mother Teresa

Posted on April 22, 2011 - by Stan Goldberg

I’d been a bedside volunteer for more than five years; sitting with dying patients and their families once or twice a week for up to four continuous hours. Sometimes I stayed with patients overnight. Regardless how demanding my responsibilities, I knew that when I left the bedside, I’d have three to six days to “recover.” It was a time to prepare myself for next week’s activities that could range from cooking a meal, to witnessing a friend’s active dying. My downtime—something that allowed me to recharge my batteries—is a luxury many caregivers don’t have. I thought I understood what they […]

2 angels lost

Posted on April 21, 2011 - by admin

There were 2 angels sent from heaven to earth, just lent to us for a brief time. During that time, the angels showed others the meaning of love, caring and compassion. The first angel was called home 10 months ago and was my sister Laurie. She was an angel through and through with a heart that shone of pure gold to those that knew here. Her departure from here was sudden and unexpected. Although she was greatly missed, we understood that she needed to fly free, unencumbered and to be in heaven with those she had loved and lost. The […]

Grief Has Its Own Timetable

Posted on April 20, 2011 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

After the death of someone we love, our grief experience and overall healing has everything to do with our relationship to the deceased, the intensity and depth of the love we felt for them, and our degree of faith in a hereafter. In the immediate aftermath of a person’s death, it’s hard to breathe and everything hurts. We feel shattered, bewildered and frightened. Sometimes, however, grief shows us its own timetable and can be delayed or complicated. I experienced a long delay in time sequence when my father died. I was thirteen years old; it was the springtime of my […]

Soul Pain, Grief and Transformation

Posted on April 19, 2011 - by Jane Simington

Between tearful sobs, Mary confides the painful story of how her life has become meaningless and of how parenting issues and marital problems have escalated since the suicide death of her teenage son, four years before. Listening to her as she speaks — bent-over, eyes averted, monotone voice — one can conclude that Mary is depressed, the type that results in reaction to a major loss. Yet as a seasoned therapist, I need to delve deeper, for I have learned that depression is not a true diagnosis; it is a collection of symptoms, all alerting a keen observer to a […]

Running From Pain Doesn’t Work

Posted on April 18, 2011 - by Louise Lagerman

I tried to run away from you. I did. I thought that if I ran fast, I would be able to escape the pain I feel over losing you. It worked for a little while. Maybe a month or two. But how can you run away from this kind of love, from this kind of longing? I realize now that it doesn’t work to run away from you and deny that you were and still are such a huge part of my life. It only causes more pain. So I need to embrace my loss and, yes, even embrace the pain. Doing […]

my son patrick

Posted on April 17, 2011 - by admin

i lost my son patrick 7 months ago .he was 8 years old .he died in an abandon house fire . he died september 17,2010 . that was the worsed day of my life . ive been trying to deal with his death but it seems like my crying everyday never stops .

Butterflies Offers Sign from Beyond

Posted on April 17, 2011 - by Kimberly Wencl

We buried our 20-year old daughter, Elizabeth, on a bright, sunny, warm September day. If only that sun would break through the shock and disbelief of what that day brought. Why God, why? Elizabeth was supposed to bury me. A parent should never have to bury a child. A year earlier, we had packed her up and taken her to her dream college, the University of Minnesota. We had never seen her so happy. She was living in an exciting metropolitan area, she was getting good grades and she was making many diverse friends … all goals she had set […]

Grief Support Group Didn’t Help – Now What?

Posted on April 16, 2011 - by Marty Tousley

Question from a reader: I feel very comfortable on the online forum I’ve joined and have already received great support from the people there. They encourage and inspire me. I’m learning a lot from those who’ve inhabited this world of grief longer than I have. That’s why it would be good to hear your thoughts on the following issue. The forum helps me, but I feel I need additional counseling. I met individually with a grief counselor from the hospice where my husband died and she encouraged me to come to one of their local support group meetings. I went, […]